Can You Count on Love?
by T.C.aka AA
Summary: X-Charmed...Sequel to How do you know Love?--slash fiction--Circumstances put Faith and Piper on opposite side. Can you count on love to bring them back together?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

No matter how many apocalypses they had managed to dodge over the years, life was never a peaceful event in the Halliwell household. And today certainly was no different, may be that is the reason why even though Phoebe had woken up as though she had had a very bad nightmare but could not remember a thing of it did not make her feel very uncomfortable at all. She made herself cup of coffee and sat on the couch trying to catch some early morning news when Paige walked downstairs with a dismayed look in her face.

"You came home last night?" Phoebe asked.

"Apparently I did. But I could have sworn I wanted to stay at Greg's place. I must have changed my mind." Paige said as she sat next to her sister.

"Why sweetie what happened?"

"I don't know. I had a date with Greg, we had a great time. We ended up at his place. Then I woke up in my bed."

"Ooo! He was too shy." Phoebe interrupted before Paige could finish.

"No, I don't know. Things were getting very heavy and all but I wonder why I came back home. Not to mention I feel like I really had a terrible night but I can't remember a thing of it." Paige told her sister.

"Oh my God!" Phoebe exclaimed.

"I know right." Paige agreed.

"No, I mean I woke up with the same feeling but I just brushed it aside thinking that it was just a result of my new empathic powers."

"I thought you got a handle on that already. Do you still sense other people's feeling without wanting to?" The sisters were still trying to understand Phoebe's new power.

"Yes, I have. I don't sense everyone's feelings anymore. I have to focus to know what they are feeling so it is under control but I don't have control over my sleep so I thought I might have got the horrible feeling from someone else when I woke up." Phoebe tried to explain.

"May be mine?" Paige asked though she was skeptic about it.

"No, remember you and Piper are immune to my powers."

The sisters were still pondering about their feeling when they saw the eldest Halliwell walking downstairs.

"You look horrible." Phoebe said seeing that Piper looked as though she had just had hands on fight with someone.

"I feel horrible but it must have been a nightmare which I can't remember." Piper said walking down.

"You too?" Paige stated.

"What do you mean?" Piper asked.

"Even we both woke up feeling that something terrible happened but we just can't remember what." Phoebe told her sister.

Piper was just staring at her sister when she burst into tears.

"Oh! Sweetie, why are you crying?" Paige asked comforting her sister with a hug and guiding her to the couch.

"I don't know. I feel like a huge part of me is missing and I just want to cry." Piper said between sobs.

Both Paige and Phoebe were comforting their sister when the front door flew open and Faith walked in.

"Faith it's so good that you are here. Piper is not feeling…" Phoebe said as she watched the slayer storm inside. Before she could finish her sentence Faith hit her with her back hand and she flew right across the room hitting the wall. Shocked Paige couldn't even react when the slayer's hand pulled her up and threw her right next to her sister. Even though Piper didn't believe what she had just witnessed she raised her hand to freeze the furious slayer but Faith only closed her eyes and fought her power with her strength.

"I will kill you." Faith said with anger as she picked up the eldest Charmed One by her throat. "I loved her and you killed my baby." Faith said as Piper choked with lack of air. Meanwhile Phoebe gained her conscious and kicked Faith, freeing her sister. But Phoebe's strength was nothing compared to Faith's determination. It was just a fraction of second before Faith got up to attack again. Just then Tara appeared and grabbed Faith and orbed away.

The three sisters stared at each other in confusion.

In a blink of an eye Faith found herself in the middle of nowhere, instead of the Halliwell manor. She turned around with furry that could burn anyone who even looked at her eyes for more than a second.

"Killing them is not the solution." Tara tried to defend her action.

"It is for me." Faith said gripping Tara's throat this time. "Orb me back there or else I'll kill you."

"No." Tara managed to say before she orbed.

Faith found herself disoriented once again, but this time she was in a familiar house. She let go of the choking white-lighter as she walked into the Summer resident's living room. Willow ran to her as soon as she saw her. There were tears forming in Faith's eyes as she stared at the floor that had a body covered with white cloth. Faith didn't find a word to say to the mourning room but instead just stared at Willow.

"She is dead." Willow managed to say before she hugged the once dark slayer and cried for her best friend's death.

"Ok correct me if I am wrong but weren't you and Faith still lovers till like last night?" Phoebe asked as she brought some water for her still shocked elder sister.

"We were. I remember kissing her good night last night. Then she went off to slaying because of the whole raising of the queen of vampires deal. She promised she would be home in the morning." Piper confirmed her memory.

"Well at least she kept her promise." Phoebe tried to crack an untimely joke.

"I think what we should focus on is who did you kill?" Paige said as she unfolded a map in the coffee table.

"I was right here, how can I kill anyone." Piper asked herself aloud.

"Well, it doesn't sound possible but that 'feeling' that we all got up with, the 'feeling' that something terrible happened, couldn't just be a co incident." Phoebe tried to reason their thinking.

"Oh! This is not good." Paige said as she watched her scrying crystal land on the map.

"What?" The other two sisters asked almost at the same time.

"Faith is in Sunnydale, but there is only one slayer." Paige said looking at her sisters. "Where is Buffy?" Phoebe asked.

"When I scry for Buffy it comes blank, like she is dead." Paige looked up at her sisters.

Phoebe stared at Piper instead, "Did you kill Buffy?"


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

"What are you doing here?" Tara asked.

"Look, I know that you might feel that this is not the right time but there will never be the right time. What is done is done. We cannot change that. But the time to make amends always has to be right now not later." He said and he pushed across Tara towards the door.

"You don't understand. You can't go in there…" Tara tried to stop the man but it was too late, he was already inside.

"That is not possible. Why would I kill Buffy?" Piper asked more to herself than to her sisters.

"May be you didn't. We all know that we were here last night and we didn't do anything. May be someone put a spell on us, impersonated us and killed Buffy and now Faith believes that we did it." Paige reasoned.

"Doesn't that seem far fetched?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, which is better that we did actually kill Buffy and don't remember a thing of it?" Paige answered back. "Of course there is this thing about why would we kill Buffy too. After all we fight for the same side, remember."

"But not in love." Phoebe added softly.

"Yeah, but the issue was resolved when Faith chose Piper and came back here." Paige insisted.

"Why you didn't hear what Faith said. She said she loved her." Phoebe reminded her sister.

"Stop it you two. No matter what you say I didn't and wouldn't kill Buffy ok." Piper said in a raised voice.

"Well we were just trying to come up with an answer." Phoebe defended their thoughts.

"Let's just call Leo, see what he knows and then go to Sunnydale and find out instead of shooting in the dark." Piper got up and started screaming their white-lighter's name.

"Leo is not answering. I have tried calling him already." Paige said getting up with her sister.

"Why isn't he answering? Where is he?"

The room was not only silent but it was also dead. It was as though everyone was just transfixed by the sight of the still body in front of them. Some of them couldn't believe that they were actually standing in front of Buffy's dead body, and to some it was like a dejavu of the first time Buffy had died.

It was Giles who first saw the man who had just entered the room.

"Oh! Heavens!" He sighed.

"What happened?" The man asked shocked.

"I can't believe you have the guts to show your face here." Xander asked disgusted by the man's presence.

Angel got up without saying a word. His face turned into his vampire look as he charged. The man moved just in time to avoid Angel's attack and ran outside, realizing that it certainly wasn't the time to talk.

"Angel, stop!" Faith screamed from behind.

"He is mine." Faith said as she sprinted out.

"You really think that coming here is a good idea." Paige asked again when they materialized on the back of the Summer resident.

"We will not go inside. We'll just see what is happening." Phoebe said as she looked for some window to peer inside.

"I see everyone but Faith." Paige said seeing the group assembled in the living room. "And I was right, Buffy is dead." She added softly.

Piper wasn't even looking; she just leaned on the side of the house trying to take in what had happened in the last one hour. The woman she had loved had tired to kill her, confessed her love for her ex girlfriend, not to mention the fact that she was accused of murder. But even though it was confusion she was feeling, but it was guilt in her heart that was making her cry once again.

"Something is not right." She said in a whisper. "I feel so guilty right now."

"I agree. Even I feel almost thankful that we don't remember." Paige added as she turned to her sister.

Phoebe on the other hand moved away from window with an expression of fear in her face. "Anger, the room is filled with so much anger. They are sad but they are angrier than anything else."

"Look whatever happened, happened right here in Sunnydale. We can't go inside the house right now, but lets go to the Magik Box, I am sure there we might find something that'll give Phoebe some premonition." Paige said holding Phoebe. Piper didn't say a word as the sisters orbed out.

Back in the Magik Box the sisters searched the empty shop silently lost in their own thoughts when Phoebe got her premonition. When she opened her eyes both her sisters were waiting in anticipation. "Faith. Faith is going to kill a man in here."

"A man, are you sure? May be a vampire or a demon." Paige asked.

"No, it was definitely a man." Phoebe confirmed.

"When?" Piper asked trying her best to focus.

Just then the door flew open and a man rushed inside.

"Apparently right now." Phoebe said recognizing the man from her premonition. Faith followed immediately after. "I should have known that you were behind this too." She said as she glared at the sisters. The man took hold of Paige's hand as though he knew that she was the one who could take him out of there. Paige saw Faith take her knife out, so she quickly got hold of her sisters and orbed out as the knife went passed through the space which was occupied by their bodies and landed on the wall.

Piper was still staring when they were back in the manor with the man.

"Phewww! That was close." Phoebe exclaimed.

"I must say." The man agreed. "But what is happening here. You told me that you would take care of everything and why is Buffy dead?" He asked as though the sisters owed him an answer.

"Excuse me! Who are you to ask us that? And how should we know why Buffy is dead?" Paige asked surprised at the man's tone.

"Is this some kind of a joke? You are asking me who I am." The man answered as surprised as the sisters.

"Do we know you?" Piper asked staring at him and probing her memory at the same time.

"Of course. We have been working together for months. I am Wesley." He answered.

The sisters stared blankly as the name didn't make sense to them.

"Wesley from the new formed council." He added more information.

"Wait a minute." He continued. "What is the last thing you girls remember? More importantly, what date is today?"

"It's November 15th and today is November 15th I know because I was watching the news this morning." Phoebe answered with confidence.

"Then tell me what happened yesterday. Let's start with Piper." He looked at the eldest Charmed One.

"Well let's see, nothing out of the ordinary. Had a lot of work at the club. Cooked lunch for Faith. We went shopping for Buffy's birthday gift… Oh yeah! The queen of the vampires rose so Faith had got a call from Buffy that she needed to make sure she went patrolling."

"What?" Wesley cut in. "Queen of the vampires. Is that the last thing you all remember?"

The sisters nodded in confirmation.

"That was last year. What did you do to yourselves?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Angel had no thought in his mind as he stared blankly at the wall. He had no idea what time it was, or what was happening around him. In all the centuries that he had lived, he had lost many people he loved. But somehow he had made himself believe that he would not loose Buffy. Now that she was gone, there was nothing to think about. To him, there was nothing to fight for. At that moment when the whole the so called living people were out in the sun burying the one person he ever loved, he wished for the first time in his life that he didn't have a soul.

"Need some company?" Faith said as she joined the loner.

"Why aren't you in the funeral?" He asked but he didn't take his eyes off the spot in the wall.

"I am not the whole wearing the black dress, going to the funeral type. Anyway the more I see her still body the more I hate myself. After all she is dead because of me."

"No she is not. And you know that."

"If I had never met Piper…"

"If you had never met Piper a lot of good that you all did together wouldn't have been done, not to mention the hell mouth would have never been closed."

"If the hell mouth would have never closed, Kennedy wouldn't have died the way she did."

"If she had not died, you or Buffy would not have lasted this long."

"Are you on their side now?" Faith asked unable to believe that Angel was defending the sisters, especially on Buffy's funeral.

"I wish it was as simple as about taking sides." He replied with his head hung low.

"To me it is." Anger was one feeling that Faith never suppressed.

"We are on the same side." Though overwhelmed by grief Angel still tried to see past the pain.

"No, we are not. Not when she took that dragger and …" Faith couldn't continue as tears filled her eyes. She looked away to swallow them.

"Right in front of you." Angel finished her thought, "I can't even begin to imagine how you must have felt."

"You are right. You can't imagine but I was watching it and I was feeling it. So, don't tell me that I am supposed to side with those murderers." Faith snapped at Angel with her eyes red with hurt, anger and tears.

"As much as I hate to admit it, you are right. I don't care what is right and wrong, just know that I am on your side. It's your call, whatever you choose to do." Angel looked into the slayer's eyes to make sure that she understood that he meant what he said.

"I want them dead. I want them dead just like my baby is dead."

The sisters hadn't still completely believed Wesley when he had to leave to pick up one of his colleague. He had promised to fill them about what had happened in the year that supposedly they had forgotten when he came back.

"So, you really think we have lost a whole year of our memory?" Paige asked as they made their way to the attic.

"I don't know. I mean if he is right, how come we remember the date. I mean I know its November 15th of 2003 not 2002." Phoebe certainly didn't believe Wesley.

"We could have been sent to the past or the future. But usually when we time travel we are not in our own bodies. Except for that one time when Phoebe was burnt alive. But that one was because we were supposed to learn a lesson." Piper bantered.

"But we always remember where or when we came from, so this might not be our doing. I mean we had to remember something right?" Phoebe asked.

"Or may be this is all our white-lighter's doing and he is refusing to show himself right now." Paige said as she once again screamed for Leo.

Paige was still screaming Leo's name and Phoebe was already flipping through the Book of Shadows when Piper saw it.

"That?" She said, making her sister's look at the object.

"I don't remember that being there. Do you Paige?" Phoebe asked.

"No, I don't. It's a very nice looking couch though." Paige admired the furniture.

"Well thank you. I bought that. For Faith. For her place. What is it doing here?" Piper told her sisters as she moved closer. "And this end table and … These are all the furniture that Faith and I got for her place. Not to mention few more things that I don't remember buying but by the look of it from the same place."

"Ohh! This is not good." Phoebe whispered so that Piper wouldn't hear her conclusion.

"You can say that again." Paige agreed in a whisper too.

"Thank god you came." Wesley said hugging the woman who walked out of the airport.

"Of course. I told you I was coming." Fred said returning the hug. "So what is happening, is the …"

"Yes." Wesley answered impatiently and rushed her to the passenger seat.

"But the worse has happened. Buffy is dead." He said as he backed out of the parking lot.

"What?"

"I don't know anything. The only thing I can imagine is that Buffy must have intervened and the sisters couldn't help it."

"Of course Buffy intervened. Why wouldn't she? But so would Faith. Where was Faith at that time?"

"I don't know. I was in Sunnydale this morning, but the whole house is mourning and Faith would rather kill me than listen to me."

"I guess that is expected. Especially now that Buffy is dead. But didn't the sisters tell you …"

"No, the worse has happened. The sisters have lost their memory."

"What!" Fred exclaimed for the second time.

"Right now my theory is that, Piper or they must have felt so guilty that she must have cast a spell on themselves either consciously or unconsciously."

"But what good would that do?"

"I don't know. It certainly would not change what happened but at least that would save Piper from a pain of a broken heart." Wesley tried to reason Piper's motive.

"Or shield her from the consequences of a jealous rage." Fred spoke out her own theory.

"Now you don't believe that." What Wesley meant was that he didn't want to believe that.

"Oh! Come on. Buffy is dead. Regardless of the deal we made with the sisters, Buffy didn't have to be dead. But she is. Guilt must have played some role in her decision."

"Let's not jump to conclusion. For all we know, it wasn't even the sisters who cast the spell on themselves. May be something else is in play here." Wesley said, trying his best to believe his own words.

Piper tried to calm her thoughts and go over everything that had happened since this morning and everything that was it was implying to and everything she felt in her heart. It just didn't make sense to her. It felt like she was watching three different movies, with same characters but different stories. There was the first picture of her present or the present as she knew to be, where Faith and she were a happy couple. Then there was the present as the events were implying to be where Faith had obviously left her and Faith's ex girlfriend or possibly current girlfriend might have been killed by her. And then there was the third picture that her heart felt but did not show clearly, where she did feel sad, torn and even guilty but she certainly didn't feel heart broken. And if Faith had left her as the furniture in front of her implied then she knew that if nothing else she would feel heart broken and that wasn't what she felt.

"Look." She finally said. "I know what this looks like and what it implies. But I don't feel it in my heart that Faith left me. And before you start, the answer is no. No, I didn't feel that she left me even when she was choking me or when she threw that knife at us. I agree something has happened and we might be the ones who might have done it. And yes, she is hurt. Why shouldn't she be? Buffy is dead for Christ's sake. But no way in hell, am I willing to believe that Faith doesn't love me and I don't love her, no matter what has happened. Just like I am unwillingly to believe that we had anything to do with our losing our memories. So, don't stare at me and look in the book for any demon or even angels who could have done this to us; thinking that they were doing us a favor." Piper concluded and stared up hoping that Leo heard what she was saying.

"Or may be not." Phoebe said, glaring at the page that had shown itself in the most untimely moment.

"What did you find?" Piper hurried beside her sister.

"The power of three spell to erase memory." Paige stated the words that were staring at them.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Through out the funeral Willow felt like she was walking in a dejavu. After all it wasn't the first time she arranged or attended Buffy's funeral. She walked inside the house with the same solemn face that she carried through out the first funeral. She went to the  
kitchen and stared outside trying to tell herself that Buffy was gone and nothing could bring her back. Of course she was telling herself that the first time too but she was able to bring her friend back. She wondered if she could do the same now, or were the same  
days repeating it. It wasn't as though she hadn't tried. Tears had stormed out from the moment she had opened the bedroom door to find the Buffy's still body. It hadn't soothed her or even let out the void in her heart.  
  
"Are you all right?" Tara asked from the doorway. "Yes. I mean no. I don't know how to answer that. I mean if I say yes, then it doesn't make sense. How can I be all right on the day I buried my best friend? Right. But how can I say no. No one ever answers no a question like that. It is always assumed that you should answer yes." Willow couldn't stop the words. "No, sweetie. You can answer no. Its about how you feel." Tara approached the woman who once meant everything to her. "Well then no. I definitely don't feel all right." Willow said and turned back to watching out the window. "I am just telling myself to believe that she is actually gone."

"I know it is hard to believe it. After all we did bring her back from the dead. But not this time." Tara said as she took out a coke from the fridge and popped it open for Willow. She had always liked doing things for her.  
"I know. I have to make a confession. When I saw her lying dead, I summoned the dark force to bring her back." She said with her head hung low. Willow knew that Tara never approved of her using the dark magic.

"I know. I also know that the only reason they refused is because this time Buffy died with human device and not mystical ways." Tara handed her ashamed ex girlfriend the drink and walked behind her to give her a comforting hug.

"It's ok sweetie. Please don't feel ashamed. Desperate situation calls for desperate measures. And I was with you when we brought Buffy back to life the first time remember."

The last thing she wanted was for Willow to use magic secretly. Whenever Willow did  
that she had ended up in trouble. Willow appreciated Tara's hug and captured her hands so as she could fully lean on the taller woman. She had missed that a lot. She had missed having one person with whom she didn't have to pretend to be strong. She could just lean and show her weakness and never fear that she would be judged or laughed at. But she had lost Tara. Not  
because she didn't love her, but she had lost her because she did love her. She had thought that letting her go was the best thing she could have done for both of them. But right now she wondered how she could have ever come to that conclusion, when the safest place  
for her was still within her arms. She turned her face slightly just to find herself staring into the  
ecstasy of the Tara's eyes. For a moment they both lost their trance and were only a hairline away from recapturing what was lost with their lips when Willow blinked and remembered the present.

"So." She said as she wriggled out of the blond's arms. "Did you talk to Phoebe after that?"  
"No, we never got a chance. Not with everything happening." Tara realized that even though this time the boundary wasn't crossed physically both of them had once again had lost themselves to the past. "You must really hate the sisters."  
"No, I don't. Not all of them. I mean even though this might be the most wrong thing to say especially on this day but I understand why they did what they did. I mean I personally would have never done what they did but that is because Buffy was my best friend. But, even if Buffy was in their position I think she would have done the same. So no I don't hate them. I hate what has happened, but not them. I mean I don't like them at least not all of them either. I mean I don't like Phoebe, but you know the reason is because she hurt you not because of now."  
"Faith certainly doesn't agree with you. I found her almost killing Piper this morning." Tara told Willow about the morning's incident.  
  
Before Willow could say anything she saw Faith walking in. The look  
in Faith's eyes made Willow scared a little.  
"There you are." Faith said glaring at Tara. "I need a little ride  
Ms. White-lighter."  
"Faith, I am not going to take you anywhere, not till you calm  
down." Tara tried to look at Faith when she answered but was too  
intimidated to do so.  
Faith's hand was in Willow's throat lifting her in the air, when she  
turned to Tara this time. "I believe you know the destination."  
Tara debated talking Faith out of hurting Willow but she knew that  
with the state Faith was in, words would do no good, so instead she  
complied.  
-------------------------------------------------------------"Ok I am not one of those back seat drivers, but don't you think we  
have been on the road for a little too long. Are we lost?" Fred  
asked Wesley as she looked at her watch for the 100th time.  
"I hate to agree with you but we just might be lost. But I swear I  
knew the way." Wesley confessed.  
"May be we should stop and ask for direction." Fred suggested.  
"I agree, but where?" He asked signaling her to look out the window.  
They were traveling on the road all right but it seemed to be empty.  
Who could believe that the San Francisco highway would be empty but  
it sure was.  
"Well then just take the first exit." Fred said optimistically.  
"I have been waiting for an exit for the last 45 minute."

-----------------------------------------------------  
Just after the three women materialized in front of the Halliwell  
manor, Faith let go of the red head. "Thanks." She said as she  
strode towards the house.  
"Faith wait." Tara screamed but was too late to stop the jolt of  
lighting to thrown Faith away.  
"There is a barrier around the house that's why I wasn't able to orb  
you nearer." Tara finished as she ran to the slayer who was on the  
road.  
"Damn those witches." She muttered and walked passed the worried  
women to the spot where she had got shocked. She stretched her hand  
and tried to slowly get past the barrier but the shock she was  
enduring was visible even to the human eye.  
"Faith please stop." Willow pleaded as she watched the slayer's face  
burn with pain. "You can't get past it. They have put a spell."  
Faith ignored her and put her both hands inside the electric field.  
"Faith please stop." Tara tried to pull her from behind. Faith took  
her hand out for a second and pushed the blond away and put her hand  
back in.  
"Faith please stop. Stop hurting yourself. It'll kill you." Willow  
begged from a safe distance.  
"I need to go inside." Faith screamed in pain but not in defeat.  
"We will find a way to counter the spell. Don't kill yourself." Tara  
said firmly.  
Just then Faith pulled her hands out. They were burning. Willow  
quickly rushed to her aid and stomped the fire out. "Why should I  
trust you? You were unwillingly to even bring me here?" Faith  
questioned the white-lighter.  
"Because you are still our friend. We just buried one friend today,  
I am unwillingly to loose another." Tara said as she got ready to  
heal the slayers hand.  
"No, don't." Faith pulled her hands away. "It'll heal itself. I like  
the sensation anyway. You work on a way to get me inside. I'll be at  
my place." Faith said as she got up and left.  
--------------------------------------------------------------

"Wow!" Paige said as she flipped through another page in the book.  
"What? What are you wowing about now?" Piper asked.  
"Look at all this spell. It seems like we were really on a roll  
here. We have written so many spells and very powerful ones too.  
Making people lost spell, a really powerful barrier spell, not to  
mention …."  
"We must have been fighting something really big." Phoebe said  
uncaringly.  
"Or something human. Because all these spells are for humans. I mean  
we even have one to diffuse a bomb." Paige thought aloud.  
"See I told you Leo had something to do with our memory." Piper said  
dropping an old book on the table. "Look at the ingredients used for  
that memory spell. See this ximmer-extract. It's a powder used by  
white-lighters to erase people's memory. They use it when there is a  
fear of magic being exposed."  
"Yes, even if Leo did give us the powder, we are the one who wrote  
the spell. And a really good one too. Look at how specific this  
spell is. It's not to erase memory of a specific time period but to  
erase memory regarding a specific series of event." Paige read on.  
"But Leo is not the only white-lighter we know." Phoebe said as the  
thought just occurred to her.  
"Tara?" Piper asked skeptically.  
"I know as far as we know we haven't seen her because of her new  
charge. But that may not be true in the events that happened that we  
don't remember. After all she was here this morning to orb Faith  
away. So, she might be involved." Phoebe explained her thought.  
"You think if we call her she might hear us." Paige asked unsure of  
the whole idea.  
"It's worth a try. Especially when Leo is not answering." Piper  
answered.  
- 

-------------------------------------------------------  
  
"If this is the same protection spell that you think it is, then I  
don't see anyway for us to break through it." Willow said as she  
threw some stones inside the barrier.  
"I know, it's next to impossible, but I had to say something. I  
couldn't see Faith hurting herself." Tara replied.  
"I can imagine what Faith must have done this morning, for sisters  
to use such powerful spell."  
"They must have known that at some point we would help her."  
"They got that right. Tara you think Faith would ever calm down?"  
"I don't know. I knew it would hurt her. I think even they were  
prepared for that but no one was prepared for Buffy's death. May be  
that's why even they are trying to buy some time to see if Faith  
does calm down." Tara said as she touched the barrier and was  
shocked with a small voltage of electricity.  
  
Both the witches tried few spells on the barrier even though they  
were both sure that it would not work. When they were ready to give  
up pretending that they were trying, Tara squeezed Willow's hand and  
looked up.  
  
"What? What happened?" Willow asked shocked.  
"They are calling me." Tara answered.  
"The elders?" Willow asked again.  
"No, the sisters." Tara answered surprising both of them.  
"How can they be calling you, when they have put on this barrier  
that you can't orb into." Willow asked the obvious, "Unless they are  
not the ones who used the spell. And they are trapped in there like  
we are trapped out."  
"Exactly. Something is not right here." Tara said as she threw  
another spell in vain. " I need to let them know that I have heard  
them."  
"But how?"  
  
Willow decided to try one more spell before giving up. She was  
making a circle and Tara was looking for appropriately shaped stone  
for their spell when Willows cell phone rang. It was Faith who  
wanted to know if they had managed to get through. After conveying  
the negative answer as positively as she could she hung up and went  
to where Tara was standing.  
  
"You think the spell blocks out the modern technology signals?" She  
asked the blond waving the cell phone.  
"It's worth a try huh." Tara said as she took the phone from her  
former girlfriend.

---------------------------------------------------------  
"I can't believe this. Even Tara is not answering. What is this?  
Aren't we witches anymore. Why don't white-lighters come for us?  
For all they know, we might be dying out here." Piper yelled at the  
ceiling.  
"Yeah but if we are hurt they can sense that remember." Phoebe tried  
to calm her sister who was getting more agitated by the minute, in  
fact they all were.  
  
"What's that?" Piper asked startled by the ringing sound.  
"That's the phone. I'll get it." Paige said as she went downstairs.  
  
After a little while, the two sisters decided to head downstairs too  
carrying the book with them. Just as they walked down the stairs,  
they were met by their youngest sibling.  
"You won't believe this."  
"I don't believe any of this." Phoebe mocked.  
"Tara and Willow are right outside the house. They can't come in  
because apparently we cast the protection spell that is keeping them  
or anyone out."  
"We haven't cast any spell."  
"Tara insists that it is our spell."  
"Well then un-cast it and let them in." Piper said as she opened the  
door and walked outside. Her sisters followed.  
  
"Hey!" Willow said as she saw the sisters come outside.  
"We didn't do this." Piper said as she walked closer.  
"Don't step any closer, you'll get a shock." Tara warned as saw that  
Piper wasn't slowing down.  
"If this is our spell how can we get shocked by it." Paige asked  
surprised by Tara's warning.  
"Because that's the way you all wrote the spell. No one in or out.  
So, could you take it off now?" Willow requested.  
"How do we do that exactly?" Phoebe asked, seeing that they knew  
more about their own spell than they did.  
"What do you mean by how? Just un cast the spell like the last time."  
Tara answered.  
"What last time?" Piper asked forgetting for a second that they were  
the ones who had lost their memory.  
"Wait. What is happening here?" Tara asked finally realizing that  
the sisters were not how she expected them to be.  
"Long story short. According to the Wesley guy, we have lost a  
little more than a year's worth of memory. So, you need to help us  
out here if you want to refer to events that apparently happened but  
we don't remember." Paige abbreviated.  
"Lost your memory! That's why you needed the ximmer-extract." Tara  
tried to put together the pieces in her head.  
"Did you give it to us?" Phoebe asked wanting to know what Tara had  
figured out.  
"No, it's against the rules. But Leo did." Tara replied defensively.  
"So you guys don't remember anything?" Willow wanted to clarify for  
her own peace of mind.  
"Nope nothing. It was a shock to us to find out that we killed  
Buffy." Paige relayed their reaction.  
"You guys didn't kill Buffy." Tara corrected. "Wait a minute, you  
think the reason Faith attacked you is because of Buffy."  
"Well, she said we killed her baby and Buffy is dead. So if we  
didn't kill Buffy who killed her? And who did we kill?" Phoebe asked  
making her own assessments.  
"Buffy committed suicide this morning. Faith didn't even know she  
was dead till I orbed her back to Sunnydale." Tara answered softly.  
"We killed her baby." Piper grabbed her chest feeling the pain  
physically.

----------------------------------------------  
  
Faith waited in her apartment with her eyes closed. She didn't want  
to open her eyes. She didn't want to look at the room that was  
painted pink with tweedy birds in the ceiling. "Oh! Babies love  
birds." Piper had said and made her put so many of them all over the  
place. Even though Faith had made her protest known she had  
complied. How could she say no to anything that the baby wanted?  
  
She got up with a start and walked to the other side of the room.  
Her eyes were still closed as she knelt down and started rocking the  
empty crib.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

"Buffy….." Faith screamed as she ran outside trying to catch Buffy before she went too far. "Buffy would you please slow down and listen to me." She yelled from behind. Buffy turned and waited for Faith to catch up to her. "Faith, please go back. I certainly didn't come to disrupt your life here as Piper put it." "I know, where you are coming from. But you have to understand Piper's position here too." Faith paused to take a breath and continued. "You gave us no warning here."

"I know. But I didn't know how else to approach you guys." Buffy confessed.

"Look, don't go back yet ok. Let me talk to Perfect. We'll come up with some solution if not agree with yours. Are we five?" Faith proposed. Buffy just nodded and started to walk away. "Hey", Faith yelled once again. Buffy half turned; "Congratulation" Faith said with a smile. Buffy smiled back and continued walking.

Piper certainly had come a long way since that day when Buffy had shown up in there door almost five months pregnant. Of course Faith had completely understood her girlfriend's reasoning as well as Buffy's thoughts, and so it had been up to her to find a solution that pleased both the women. And she had been doing that more often than she wanted since that day.

Faith finally finished painting the last of the tweedy bird on the wall and she took a step back to admire her work when she felt dizzy and lost her balance. She was collapsing when she was caught by Buffy's strong hands and lowered on the floor. She opened her eyes slowing to find Piper right in front of her. "Baby you ok?" Piper asked. "Yeah, I think so." Faith replied sitting up. "I told you not to paint." Buffy said as she watched Faith get up using Piper as support. "It's the toxic fumes of the paint that made you dizzy." "I told her the same thing." Piper agreed. "Baby, you should not be painting in your condition." Piper added. "I know." Faith said as she tried to hide away from Piper's 'you should know better' glare. "You wanted the baby to have tweedy birds and I wanted to give it to her." She confessed. "But you should think about the health of the baby before you do anything sweetheart." Piper said as she put her hands on Faith enlarged stomach. "Whatever you eat or smell is going directly to her?"

Buffy silently watched the two women as she gathered the paint cans and slowly walked out of the room.

Faith opened her eyes and walked towards the wall that had been staring at her. She touched the bird on the wall and finally let the anger finally subside and tears take its course. She traced the outline of the bird as she let her body fall to the ground and sobbed. "Why Piper? Why?" She screamed as loud as she could.

"Stop! Stop the car." Fred said as Wesley made a sudden stop. "Fred we are finally not lost and now you want to delay us more."

"No, you go to manor. I'll get off here." Fred said as she undid her seatbelt. Wesley put his hand on Fred's to stop her. "No, Fred. She tried to kill me. She is certainly not going to listen to you. Our best chance is to go to the sisters."

"Wesley, you and I both know that that is how she deals with grief. Let me go to her. Let me try. And anyway, as you said the sisters have lost their memory so it'll take you some time to get them updated. They'll not help us till they know everything, and you have to prove it to them that what you are saying is the truth. They'll not take your words for what happened." Fred pushed Wesley hands gently away from her.

"That is exactly why you need to be there, so that we could bring their memory back. Not just tell them the past." Wesley insisted. "Wes, even Willow could not counter their spell. You know better than to suggest that I or anyone could bring their memory back. It's their spell, they have to break it. You just have to make sure they trust you." Fred got out of the car. "Fred, going to Faith at this time will not make Faith love you." Wesley voiced the real reason. "I know, but she shouldn't be alone right now." Fred lowered her eyes as she spoke. "Don't do this Fred. Don't set yourself up for hurt." Wesley warned his friend. "I know she is in a really dark place right now. Especially with Buffy gone, she needs someone to hold onto. If the sisters do get their memory back, and Faith and Piper can get past this, which I don't see how, but if they do, you know I'll never stand in the way." She was telling this to herself more than she was telling Wesley. "They will get past this. They love each other." Wesley stated.

"But can you count on love?" Fred asked.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

"Piper, please get hold of your self." Phoebe once again pleaded to her sister who seamed to be lost in a trance. She hadn't moved since she had made the realization of killing Faith's baby. Even though neither of them could make sense of what had happened, both Paige and Phoebe knew that now was not the time to get updated. They needed to get Piper out of her trance and break the barrier spell.

"How the hell are we supposed to know if we even broke the freaking barrier?" Paige said in frustration.

"I'll check." Phoebe volunteered.

"No don't." Tara said as she got up and moved toward the invisible border.

"It's ok. Someone has to do it. And how painful could it be?" Phoebe said as she stood right in front of Tara and readied her hands.

"The jolt almost killed Faith and she has slayer strength." Tara wanted Phoebe to be ready for it.

"Well, if worse happens you can always heal me right?" Phoebe tried to find a ray of hope.

"Not, really. Not if the barrier is still up." Tara said sadly.

"Well, regardless." Phoebe said and raised her hands to her chest. "Here goes nothing."

"The spell is broken." It was Piper's voice that spoke just as Phoebe's hands crossed the invisible air and landed on Tara's chest. Realizing the inappropriate physical contact Phoebe withdrew her hand quickly. "Oh! I am so sorry." Her reaction was so automatic she failed to see the blushing white lighter who for a split of a second rejoiced the contact.

Meanwhile Phoebe turned to her eldest sibling who was now staring at her, "You couldn't have said that sooner."

"Yeah. And when did the spell break." Paige added to Phoebe's inquiry.

"The spell broke when I realized what I had done. But I just figured it out." Piper said as though she was talking to herself. She took a moment to gather her thoughts, and then she wiped her not dried tears and faced her awaiting audience. "I think I got it figured. Everyone follow me inside." Willow was just about to say something, when Piper stopped her, "No, not a word. Not till I get to say what I think first."

Everything was still all around. There wasn't a sound to be heard. It was as though with her the entire world was sleeping. But she wasn't sleeping. She tried to remind her self of that. No, she wasn't sleeping she was lying there. Just lying still. Just lying still she was. She was lying still because…. Oh god she could not even bring her self to say it. Because she was dead. She finally admitted and knelt down to let the letters of the grave stare at her. 'Buffy Summers' it read. Even though written grimly it seemed to be screaming at her. As though it was trying to make sure she knew that, that's all that was left, a named craved on a stone.

"I can't believe this is really true." She said it aloud when she felt a familiar presence behind her. "When Xander called me, I really didn't think it was true. I thought it was just one of her stories. All those about demons and vampires."

"They were all true." Giles said as he put his hand on her shoulder to let her know he was there.

"I know." She confessed. "And this is true too."

It took her a long time to get up, but when she did, she faced the man she was still party angry with. "Why didn't you let her come with me?"

"Diana, she made the choice to stay, not me." Giles once again found himself defending himself.

"She was all ready to move on. Move on and out of here. Out of Faith's life. But you just could not see that happen. She had fulfilled her destiny. She had closed the hell mouth. But it wasn't enough. You and the council could not let her live in peace." She shot back.

"I was against reforming the council, as much as I was against Buffy's decision, you know that." Giles reminded the red head FBI agent.

"If you were so against it, why did you have to tell Buffy about it?" Agent Scully certainly was not convinced.

"Diana, if I hadn't told her someone else would have. They had already planned it, they would have approached her. I just thought that if I did it, I would be able to tell her how risky it was." Giles tried to remember his thoughts when he had agreed to be the messenger. "The Buffy I knew would never have agreed. All I needed was for her to say 'No'. I knew once she said 'No', there was no way Faith would agree to it."

"You never got it." Agent Scully put it as grimly as she thought it.

Giles had no response to that.

"She was a slayer. She always was. You made sure that she remembered that every step of her life. She lost everything because of it. And not once she looked back. Yes, she craved a normal life, but when she finally got it, what did she have. Not to mention the fact that she lost Faith too, the one person she thought she would have. She had to let her go and sit back and smile as Faith played house with Piper." Scully remembered the pain her friend went through as she continued. "When she was given a chance to have slaying back into her life, why didn't you think that she would have not agreed to it.?"

"Because the root of it was evil." Giles replied.

"According to council the first slayer was empowered with the strength of the evil, too." Scully replied back.

"Yes, but Buffy never felt proud of that. She didn't even listen to the council when she was a slayer." Giles tried to reason with Diana like he was actually talking to Buffy.

"Damn it Giles. I am not Buffy. She is dead. Regardless of what you thought she would do. She decided to stay here and have the baby and you were the one who came to us with the idea. So, please don't, don't try and allude from acknowledging your guilt, especially not in front of me, and _especially_ not in front of her grave."

"But I never told her to go to Faith." Giles was still trying escape guilt.

"No, you didn't. But the baby was already in her. Faith was the only option."

"Why weren't you here?" It was Giles's turn to find guilt.

"I had to leave. That's why I asked her to come with me. She was willing till you came knocking."

"Like you have to leave right now?" Giles looked towards her partner Fox standing in a safe distance waiting for her.

"Yes. I have to leave." Diana admitted.

"Why?" Giles asked.

"Because this is not my story. I was just a visitor. I tried to be a part of it. But it's not my fight." She too turned towards her partner. "Goodbye Giles. Let Zander and Willow know I came."

Giles nodded as he watched the older woman who even for a little while had showed Buffy that a normal life was beautiful. The woman who refused to let him believe that it wasn't him who pulled her back into the world of slaying. He shook his head and told himself that it wasn't him. But like Scully he knew better, no matter what the council decided it was him who had bared the news.

"We cast this spell." Piper informed.

"Well of course. It's a power of three spell so no one else but we could cast it. Tell us something we haven't figured it out yet." Paige retorted as she was getting more and more impatient.

"Well not just the memory spell, even the protection spell, we cast it." Piper tried to speak her mind but was once again interrupted.

"How can that be? There was no spell this morning. We orbed to Sunnydale. Even Tara and Faith was in here." It was Phoebe who spoke.

"No, this is our spell. I think we have cast not just couple but a few spell to protect us, when the time came." Piper assessed.

"Protect us from what?" Paige asked.

"Hear me out before you say another word." Piper requested her sisters who were the only ones whose impatience was interrupting even her thought.

Fred's feet stopped themselves outside Faith's door. A lot had changed since the time they worked side by side in LA. Faith had tamed her wild side. She had actually sustained a relationship with Piper. Who would have thought that beer chugging, one night stand loving Faith would have actually been the one to carry a baby and convert her own apartment into a nursery with her girlfriend. It certainly wasn't like Faith, but she had done so. Fred prepared herself to greet the new vulnerable Faith as she turned the knob of the door.

When she opened the door, she was surprisingly surprised. She had to be surprised as what she saw was not a distraught Faith but rather a very busy one, was not exactly disassembling the crib but was just about finished breaking it and had moved on to bringing down some wooden birds that were hanging on the ceiling directly on top of it.

"I should have figured the Willy boy would call you." She said when she saw Fred standing.

"You are not jumping on me to kill me too, so I figured you have calmed down." Fred assessed as she braved to move a little more inside the room.

"You were never for killing by baby." Faith told her as she yanked the last of the bird from the ceiling.

"Its wasn't your baby Faith." Fred had only uttered those words when Faith was right on her face with a fist made for her. "Don't you ever say that again." Faith voiced it through her greeted teeth.

"I feel that we cast spells to protect us, I still don't know from what. But the spells get broken at a pace when we get ready for it. Or get ready to face the consequence of the truth." Piper assessed her thoughts.

"Whatever you just said right now, that doesn't make sense to me." Phoebe confessed.

"I got it." Tara volunteered. "First thing first, the only counter for your memory spell is for you to come to terms with what is happening right now to remember what caused it. If any of the outside sources tries to give you the past in the nutshell, your spells will protect you from it."

"You mean like when barrier spell." Willow asked.

"Yes, it came into affect as soon as the Wesley guy was here and told us that we lost our memory. As, soon as he left the spell must have taken into effect, so that no one else could tell us anything else. It was only when I realized that it was Faith's baby, that the spell was broken. By that time I had also realized that we should not be asking you all for what happened." Piper completed.

"You mean we wrote such an intelligent spell." Paige tried to sound proud.

"It is our spell. What baffles me is how it's getting cast and un cast?" Piper questioned her own thought.

"We must have attached it to our emotion, just like our powers." Phoebe figured

"Ok, but why me?" Piper asked no one is general.

"Because you killed an innocent baby." Paige blurted.

"Ok. I am really biting my tongue so that I don't tell you about what you don't remember but because you already met Wesley and you keep mentioning him. Where is he?" Willow asked trying to mellow the tension from Paige's remark.

"We don't know. He went to pick up Fred." Phoebe said and stopped in her tracks.

"What?" Tara asked as she saw the expression on Phoebe's face change.

"I said Fred. When I could have sworn Wesley didn't mention a name. That's a good sign I am remembering too." She beamed a smile.

"Good for you sis but he has been gone for hours when the airport is only 20 minutes from here." Paige had only said those words when the door bell rang. Paige walked over and opened the door to Welsey. "You sure took your time." She said.

"I got lost. It was very weird." He answered and entered the room.

"Lost as in long road of highway with nothing in site, not even an exit." Phoebe asked.

"Exactly." He said as he greeted the new faces in the room.

"The lost spell from the book." Piper told everyone. "So we are right."

"What are you right about?" Wesley asked as he was one who seemed off the loop.

Willow took hold of Wesley and took him in the kitchen. Once there she filled him about the sisters theory. They were standing silent when Tara entered. "What are you thinking?" Tara asked as she entered. "We think that they are wrong." Wesley voiced their joint opinion.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

"Let's do it." Piper said as she ran the comb through her dark hair for the last time.

"No." Faith replied without even a moment's thought.

"Come on, honey. Living together is the next step." Piper insisted.

"I see no use for it. I am here as often as you want me to be, and what harm is my little crib doing to you." Faith once again dismissed Piper's thought.

"Nothing but, it's like making it official." Piper added to her argument.

"Uh huh." Faith was now rumbling in the closet looking for clean clothes.

"Well, think about it at least." Piper said as she left the room to make some breakfast.

Down in the kitchen, Phoebe was making a quick breakfast for herself.

"You are up early?" Piper asked when she saw her sister gulp down some oj.

"Yeah, I have a deadline so I am going to work." Phoebe replied.

"I thought you were writing your column last night." Piper asked her little sister who was now becoming a fairy well known advice columnist.

"Yeah, I couldn't something came up." Phoebe answered hurriedly.

"Hey Faith." Phoebe greeted her sister's partner.

"Hey, where are you off too?" Faith was as surprised as her girlfriend.

"To work." Phoebe replied once again. "So how did it go with the queen of vampire last night?" Phoebe asked half interested.

"You know the usual, overpowered, and outnumbered but the bad guy always how do you call that, oh yeah, poofs." Faith replied as uninterested as Phoebe and took a bite of the pancake that Piper had put in front of her.

"Good job." Phoebe looked up and gave a little made up smile at the slayer. "Before I leave, Paige called; she said she is going directly to work from Greg's place so she won't be home until after work."

Phoebe got up and gave a quick kiss to her sister then Faith then rushed out waving goodbye.

Leo orbed right in front of the door and cautiously tried to hear for noises from inside. When he heard nothing and was satisfied that it was safe, he knocked awkwardly and waited for response. After few seconds he knocked again, and looked behind him to make sure no one in the house had noticed.

"Come in." He heard the voice from inside.

He opened the door quickly and closed it behind him.

"Hey! Leo." Tara said a little surprised at seeing her fellow whitelighter.

"Good I caught you before you left." Leo said relieved.

"Go where?" Tara was clueless as to Leo's worries. Before Leo could answer they both heard the chime that meant the elders were calling.

"There." Leo replied right after.

"You look worried. What is it about?" Tara asked her former mentor.

"Buffy." Leo replied.

"Buffy!" Piper exclaimed at the blond slayer who was standing on her door. "What a pleasant surprise. Come on in."  
Buffy stepped inside rather timidly. "I am sorry to bother you all so early, but this was really important and I wanted to talk to you and Faith before either of you went to work."

"Hey you don't have to apologize. You know you are always welcome here. Is something the matter?" Piper asked leading Buffy to the living room where Faith was sitting on the couch.

"Wow B! Is that you?" Faith didn't hide her shock at Buffy's appearance, while Piper eyed her from behind the blond woman and signaled her to be polite. Realizing that Faith was sternly looked at, Buffy turned to the charmed one to answer, "Its ok Piper. I am allowed to be fat as I am pregnant."

"Buffy is PREGNANT!" Tara repeated Leo's statement.

"Yes, and not just pregnant, she is five months pregnant." Leo reconfirmed his news.

"Five months. Are you telling me she was pregnant when we saw her at her birthday?" Tara asked a little confused by Leo's revelation.

"No, she wasn't pregnant then." Leo answered.

"How is that possible?" Tara had to ask even though she knew in the world that they lived in, many impossible was possible.

"You better sit down."

"You better sit down." Buffy told the two women who fought vampires and demons but were now astound by Buffy's five months' pregnancy.

"After Kennedy died in the closing of the hell mouth, no new slayer was called. As you all know, Wesley with the help of Giles reformed the watcher's council, but there was no slayer which of course didn't mean that there was no other evil to fight. There is still evil in the world, a slayer who follows the line have to be there so they decided to do what the ancients did to form the first slayer." Buffy paused to take a breath.

"They decided to conjure up the next slayer as baby inside of me using the text of the ancients who empowered the first slayer. She is growing at a rapid rate, because of which even though I was impregnated only five weeks ago, the baby is already as big as five months old." Buffy explained as simply as she could.

"Wow, I guess congratulations are in order." Piper said as soon as she recovered from her shock, and went over and hugged her pregnant friend.

Faith remained silent and refused to show any kind of reaction.

"But there is more to it?" Piper asked.

"Yes."

"Yes." Leo said and stood up. He just could not tell the rest of the story sitting down.

"The baby is dying inside her." Leo told now spellbound woman. "There is no other way to say it, so here goes. The first instinct of a slayer's body is to kill evil, and Buffy's body is reacting to the same instinct."

"You mean that at some level in her mind she thinks the baby is evil." Tara asked for clarification.

"Yes, in her mind but not at all in her heart. That is why she has gone to Faith for help." Leo said which only prompted Tara to ask,

"What can Faith do?"

"It is only Faith who can help." Buffy turned to the woman that once was her love.

"You have the slayer body, hence the strength to carry a slayer baby. My body is already attacking the baby, but if she is transferred to your womb and you carry her for the rest of the term. We can save the baby."

"Whoa! Wait a minute here, me carrying a baby!" Faith exclaimed at Buffy's suggestion.

"Faith please you have to understand, there is no other way. You alone possess the strength for it." Buffy begged.

"I get it B but I don't even understand how a baby can be transferred into me, wait let me answer that myself. Red said she can do it?" Faith asked even though she knew the answer herself.

"Yes." Buffy said softly just to reconfirm.

"Even though B…"

"Please don't say no, Faith. I have asked nothing of you till today, I beg you for this favor." Buffy's eyes were filled with tears as she spoke.

"Buffy there is no guarantee that Faith's body won't kill the baby." Piper thought aloud.

"Well, it took my body five weeks, I am pretty sure Faith's will take around the same time, but before that she will be delivered." Buffy voiced her reasoning hoping that it would convince the couple with whom she was begging for a very impossible favor.

"Please Faith!" Buffy cried one more time to reach the dark slayers heart.

"B, there is nothing more I want than to help you right now, but…" Faith stared at the woman that once was the reason for her existence.

"NO."

Both the slayer stared at the charmed one who spoke the word.

"What I don't understand is why they needed another slayer?" Tara asked as she had been a little out of touch with her slayer friends.

"What was the council to do with no slayers? Buffy and Faith both were not the ones needing the council. And even if they died no other slayer would be called." Leo explained.

"Then why was the council formed? The hell mouth was closed, it was over." Tara countered back.

"Because there are still other evil in the world." Leo tried to explain.

"Agreed and there are other good forces at work for them. Everyone has their destiny and the slayers were to close the hell mouth, that's why it engulfed Kennedy to balance the good and evil." Tara recalled the past year.

"I know but Wesley and other surviving council members decided against it. They thought that conjuring up a slayer was their only chance to stay in business, if we can call it that." Leo told Tara.

"And Buffy actually agreed to it?" Tara asked even though she already knew the answer.

"Yes, and I am just hoping that Piper can persuade Faith not to agree with it." Leo hoped.

"No, Faith will never say no to Buffy." Tara said.

"She has to. If Faith loves Piper she cannot help Buffy." Leo told.

"I know but does Faith even know what position Piper will be in if she agrees." Tara asked.

Faith walked in slowly and closed the door behind her. Even though she had told Buffy not to leave San Francisco and that she would try and make Piper understand, she had no idea what she could tell her girlfriend to let her carry her ex-girlfriend's baby. It was an impossible favor enough to ask without the baby being slayer and the whole good verses evil interfering with it. But she had to convince Piper, she just could not not-help Buffy.

"Faith please, don't try to convince me to agree to what Buffy asked of you." Piper said as soon as she saw her girlfriend approach slowly as though she was contemplating what to say.

"Perfect you know I would never even consider it if there was any other alternative. Think about it, it's not like she can walk into a hospital and put the baby in the tube for the rest of the term. Like she said there is no other way, and we are talking about a life here. An innocent life." Faith walked over and held Piper's hand to make her point.

"That baby is any thing but innocent." Piper retorted helplessly.

"Perfect, you don't believe that." Faith said to calm her lover who was on the verge of crying.

"You don't get it." Piper blurted out just before bursting in tears and hugging Faith with all her strength.

"Hey hey hey…. Don't cry. There is nothing to cry about." Faith soothed Piper as she wondered why Piper was panicking.

"If you do this. I'll loose you." Piper said in between her sobs.

"You do understand why?" Leo asked.

"Yes, Piper would have to make the same choice that I had to between my destiny and Willow." Tara answered.

"Yes." Leo replied when Tara paused.

"But they let me retake my destiny." Tara tried to find a solution for the charmed one that wasn't as dire as her own.

"Only when Willow let go of your heart." Leo certainly didn't want to dampen her spirit but he knew that with the way Faith and Piper loved each other, it would mean that very difficult choice had to be made.

"Elders know that Piper will have to make the choice." Tara asked.

"Yes. They already talked to me, but they want to talk to you too, as you are close to them." Leo replied.

"What do you want me to do?" Tara asked her mentor.

"They can't ask you what they have asked me to do. But they might want you to stay out of it. Even though you may have to promise them you would do so, I want you to let them know that if anything happens to me, you would be here to help the charmed ones. Help Piper. Please I don't want them to trap you in your words if something were to happen." Leo begged.

"I promise, I will not abandon the charmed ones no matter what happens or what they decide." Tara promised.

"Perfect, the elders have interfered with your life before and you have fought them before. So please don't tell me that you are scared of what they might say. That certainly is not the Perfect I know." Faith said wiping away the tears.

"Perfect I love you more than I can ever be able to tell you or prove it to you. So, there is nothing that can happen to loose me. Are we five by five on that?" She asked the woman who was trying to hide her tears.

"Faith I don't doubt your love, but you have to understand. Do you even know how the first slayer got her powers?" Piper asked more confident than she had been a little while ago.

"Yes, I know. The ancient put the powers of the evil inside a slayer to fight on their side." Faith replied.

"Then you know that the baby is conceived of evil powers." Piper made her point.

"Yes, but Perfect, you can't possibly believe a baby who hasn't seen the light of a day can be evil." Faith tried to take away Piper's fears.

"I don't believe it, but certainly Buffy's body does. That's why it's killing the baby inside of her." Piper said it even though she didn't want it to be true.

"That is understandable as the powers is conceived by evil and B's body is just reacting." Faith said and held Piper's face in her hands. She looked into the eyes of the woman she loved and asked, "Look at me Perfect and tell me that I should not save this baby. Tell me you want me to kill this baby by saying no."

Piper looked into the dark eyes but she had no answer.

Phoebe got up and walked to her sister. She Pipers head to stare into the eyes that were covered with tears. Paige sat next to her sister and hugged her. The three sisters sat in silence as they tried to come to terms with what they all had just remembered from their past.

"Piper there is no way that we would ever have believed the baby to be evil." Paige broke the silence and spoke. "I mean look at me, I was adopted…"

"Exactly, even though you were adopted and brought up with no knowledge of your destiny, look at you now. You did end up being a witch." Piper answered as though she had said those words before.

"But, no one is born evil or good. Regardless of the destiny people choose their path. Hello people am I the only one who believes the nurture plays a great deal on who people are." Words escaped Paige's lips like she was in a dejavu. She closed her eyes and shook that feeling out and continued, "I just refuse to believe that we would kill a baby for being conceived of evil."

"I agree. That's why you didn't Paige. I did." Piper replied.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

"We shouldn't have left the manor." Tara repeated her concern one more time.

"Tara it is best that they figured the truth by themselves, before we interfere and another one of their spell hit us." Wesley dismissed Tara's concern and continued to ponder on the books.

"I don't know how we are helping by sitting here. Shouldn't we be somewhere else or doing something else?" Tara was getting more and more impatient.

"No, we can help more from here." Willow replied.

"How?" Tara asked.

"This is how." Willow replied and turned her laptop so that Tara could see what was on the screen. "To prove that we were right. The sisters did not put the memory spell on themselves."

"What do you mean?" Tara asked.

"There was no reason for Piper or the sisters to cope with any truth." Willow told Tara who hadn't realized what was happening.

"They already knew everything. Piper agreed to it." Wesley finished Willow's thought.

"I know but they must have thought that if they didn't remember…" Tara tried to reason but Wesley didn't let her finish and spoke, "No, see if they are the ones without the memory then Faith would come after them."

"And Buffy too; if she was still alive." Willow added.

"And that is exactly what is happening. They couldn't have possibly wanted this." Wesley tried to think harder.

"Well, their memory is gone. So, may be something went wrong, maybe they didn't simply think this. After all they were the one who forced Leo to give them the ximmer extract; they made the spell and the potion. It is their making, how do you explain that." Tara said as she still wanted to believe the sisters were protecting themselves.

"It's simple actually. It was meant for someone else." Wesley said as a matter of fact.

"Buffy and Faith." Tara sat down as the realization hit her as soon as she worded the two names.

"It makes sense. It was their baby." Willow finished Tara's theory, and pointed to the screen one more time, "And this proves it."

"This is crazy, we are not going to get anywhere by racking our brains like this." Paige complained to her sisters as she pretended to think. "I agree, emotion is the key and as long as we are not faced with something or someone with emotional trigger we won't remember." Piper said.

"Well, at least we have some pieces of the puzzle. It was Buffy's baby, the next slayer. Obviously the baby was evil, still Faith carried the baby to the full term, I am guessing that's why you guys broke up." Paige assessed.

"No, we didn't break up. It was my idea to make Faith's apartment a nursery for the baby. But why not the house?" Piper asked herself.

"Because the baby had evil in her and because our house is on a nexus. As she got closer to delivery she started to suffocate." Phoebe answered surprised that she knew the answer.

"That was good Phoebes. Did you guess it or the answer came to you?" Paige asked.

"I don't know, its like I have been asked these questions before and I am just listening to my lips move?" Phoebe replied.

"Exactly, so if we ask the right questions we should be able to get our answers." Piper figured and continued, "Why did I kill the baby?"

She waited for either of her sister to spring an automated answer but instead she was just staring at them as blank as they were staring at her.

"Nope, let's slow down, and take it step by step." Paige said, "Baby was born, that we know for sure…. Faith gave birth to the baby."

"Yes, despite the elders, Piper was there with Faith." Phoebe added.

"Right, then something happened, but what?" Paige tried to boost the conversation.

"Baby was born with horns?" Phoebe smiled at her own question.

"Not funny Phoebe." Paige said while Piper was glaring at her.

"No, she was beautiful. She was the most beautiful baby in the whole world. She had these blue eyes, and when she stared at you, you just wanted drown into them forever." Piper's eyes were once again filled with tears as her mind unveiled the face of the baby that she supposedly killed. She sobbed as the memory of the little face smiling and playing with her returned to her.

"Oh! God. Please…" Piper begged on her knees as even the thought that she was capable of putting an end to a baby's life dawned on her conscious.

"Sweetie, it will be ok." Phoebe hugged her sister and rocked to and fro.

"No." Piper said and sobbed louder. "The dragger…" She managed to say in between her sobs, "The dragger was in my hands….she was looking at me…"

"This is the spell that Amy used on you when we broke up." Tara said after she read the spell on the Willow's laptop screen.

"Yes, the spell that lets the guilty choose her own punishment." Willow agreed.

"You mean someone might have put that spell on the sisters." Wesley asked.

"It's the only spell I can think of that might have made their spell work on themselves." Willow told her friends.

"Yes. It makes sense. They had told me that by the end of it we didn't have to worry about Faith or Buffy, so Tara is right, they must have made the spell for Buffy and Faith. Piper didn't want to loose Faith so she must have figured if she erased the slayers' memory she could buy herself time for Faith to understand that there was no alternative." Wesley theorized.

"Exactly, that's why they had all the fail safe spells, so that no one could tell them the truth before they were ready. So, basically Faith and Buffy would remember only what they could accept. A perfect plan to keep everyone together." Willow finished.

"But because the sisters were put on the guilty spell, when they said the spell it must have backfired on them." Wesley concluded their the new found theory.

"But who would put the spell on them." Tara asked.

That's when Willow pointed out the laptop screen for the second time, "Look who accessed the file last."

"She knew something was up!" Tara exclaimed after she saw the name.

"How could she? Only the sisters and I knew what was going to be done. Even I didn't know when they would do it?" Wesley was confused and so were the two women who were looking at him for answer.

"No, she didn't know anything." It was Giles who answered. He had entered the room just few seconds ago and was able to catch their theory and their confusion about the perpetrator. "She had no idea what the sisters were planning."

"Are you trying to say that this spell was not used on them?" Wesley asked his colleague.

"She did put that spell; she just didn't know what was happening." Giles defended.

"You knew?" Willow asked surprised.

"Yes, and I did advise her against it. I thought she wouldn't do it." Giles defended himself one more time.

"You mean you actually knew what she was planning to do to the sisters and you told no one." Tara asked getting angry at the watcher.

"No, she did not put the spell to the sisters, it was just for Piper. But I guess because they had made the memory spell linking to Buffy and Faith's powers, when the spell hit Piper it must have hit the other two sisters too." Giles answered.

"But why Piper?" Wesley asked.

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Where is she now?" Tara asked.

Fred opened the door and was staring at an empty room. Before she could think of any alternative, one thought hit her, Faith was gone. She rushed to the other end where the parts of the crib was lying and screamed Faith's name. She waited about two seconds when panic hit her and she dashed to the door. Just then the bathroom door opened and a now dressed in total black slayer emerged. Fred turned around and sighed in relief, "Oh! God! I thought you were gone."

"Not yet, but I'll be leaving soon." Faith told the smaller woman.

"You changed, you look good." Fred said trying to stall time.

"Thanks. Dark was always my color, I should have never changed." Faith answered more about herself than about her clothing.

"Faith please, you can get past this." Regardless of her feelings for Faith, Fred did not want Faith to find her dark self again.

"Do you see that? Do you see the bare wall? Do you hear the silence in this room? How do you expect me to get past it?" Faith asked frustrated at the suggestion.

"Because, even though you don't want to accept it, the baby was born of pure evil. And you know that sisters were not trying to kill her." Fred said.

"You didn't see the blood in her hands." Faith looked away remembering the sight and walking towards the door, refusing to discuss it any further.

Fred made another dash past the slayer and tried one more time, "Faith do you even know what you are about to do? You know what the consequences are?"

Faith chuckled when she answered, "I know the consequence, I have been there remember. I have killed before, or did you forget." Faith stared into now scared woman's eyes, "You know what they say, once a killer always a killer."

"You are not a killer. And if you kill any one of the sisters, you'll never be able to make amends for it." Fred warned.

"The only thing I care about is revenge." Faith blurted before she pushed Fred knocking her and walked out.

Couple of hours had passed and the sisters had abandoned the quest for their memory for a while. Paige somehow felt that they needed to cool off and there was nothing else they could remember by sitting and racking their brains, that's when she suggested that they should go to P3.

"What?" It was Phoebe who asked as Piper waited for the answer.

"Well it's almost mid night and P3 must be packed." Paige darted her eyes to both her sister to see some lightened reaction but failed. "Come on guys, by sitting here holding our head we are certainly not going to remember. Let's just go about our business, as in go and loosen up a little and may be something will trigger."

"I hate to admit this but she may be right." Piper said as she closed the book.

"Piper???" Phoebe was quick to question her eldest sibling's judgment.

"What? Emotion is the key and may be even a different venue will trigger something." Piper explained.

"Well you two go ahead then, I am just beat with too much trying to think. I'll crash." Phoebe said even though she didn't want to disappoint her sisters. She truly needed the rest.

"Are you sure sweetie?" Paige asked as she checked her temperature on the forehead, "You don't feel feverish or something?"

"No, no I am fine. I just don't feel like going." Phoebe said almost apologetically. "So, go."

"Ok now that we are here, let's knock." Tara suggested to her ex girlfriend.

"Me knock. Oh! No. I thought you were going to knock." Willow chickened out instead.

"Willow, it was your idea." Tara tried to pass the torch again.

"Yeah but you are the all mighty white lighter." Willow certainly wasn't the kind to stand on the front line.

"White lighters are not all mighty. We stand on the back ground." Tara said sternly and got behind Willow.

Just then they both heard the knob turn and the door about to open. Both the women were so scared that they closed their eyes in fear of who stood in front of them.

"Willow, Tara! What are you doing here?" Said the person who emerged from the opened door.

When the voice reached their ears they opened their eyes. "Oh! Fred!" Willow exclaimed composing herself. "Wesley had told us you would be here but... we didn't think you would still be here."

"So where is Faith?" Tara asked the bespectacled woman.

"Please don't tell me you both were able to break that barrier spell." Fred hoped she was wrong.

"Why Faith is not here?" Willow asked as the panic once again started to evade her.

"No, she is still out for blood. I tried to stop her but she knocked me cold and headed for the manor. I was hoping that the spell was still into affect." Fred told the women.

"Well let's not panic. The sisters are still powerful enough to protect themselves." Tara closed her eyes and prayed for her words to be true and said, "But, just in case lets go there."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

Past

"What does that mean?" Willow asked as Wesley finished reading from the book.

"It means she has to be drenched in her own blood for the Odan in her to be suppressed." Paige explained Wesley's ancient read.

"Well, I got that, but being drenched in her own blood, won't that kill her?" Willow asked the silent room.

"I think Willow asked a question, Mr. Wise." Buffy stressed Willow's point and glared at Wesley daring him to speak.

"The ancient did go through several possible candidates before the chosen one survived." Wesley said in a barely audible tone. Before he could even feel the breath of the last word leave his lips, Buffy lunged at him, just to be stopped by Faith.

"So you plan to sacrifice our baby for the experiment of creating a new slayer." Faith roared at the two watchers. Knowing that Wesley wasn't entirely to blame, Giles decided it was time he explained his own stand. "She is born of you and Faith. She has the slayer strength; there is a very good chance that she will survive the ceremony."

"You really think that we are willing to let you drain our baby out of her blood just so you can see if she survives it or not." Buffy once again baited the two English men to answer.

"She is already showing signs of Odan, if we don't take actions now, she'll possess enough evil in her that nobody can defeat her. Evil shall prevail. That is why ancient made sure they never crossed puberty." It was after he heard his own words that Wesley realized that he had just dug his own grave.

"How many?" Piper who had been silently observing with her sisters finally asked.

"How many what?" Giles asked the Charmed One.

"How many babies were killed by the ancient to find the One?" Phoebe clarified her sister's questions.

Silence once again engulfed the room as Wesley contemplated if or not to answer, but the room that was staring at him left him no choice. "Seven hundred and fifty five, but you have to understand in the beginning the watchers council had assumed that that number meant the number of days it would take her to kill the evil inside of her."

"Well, I don't give a shit about what you or the so called wise ones had thought or think will happen. You'd have to go through us to get your hands on our baby." Buffy said and took a step back to look at Faith who was still holding her hand.

One would have thought that Piper wouldn't have taken a moment to side to protect an innocent child regardless of what her destiny held, but seeing her girlfriend's hand in the hands of her ex did make her hesitate even though it was for a fraction of a second. Piper closed her eyes and told herself not to make their closeness for more than what it was, two parents uniting to save their daughter. Piper got up and took Faith's free hand followed by her sisters who took her free hand. "And us." Paige said seeing that they were forming a human chain. Angel, Dawn and Xander too got up from the couch and stood behind the slayers.

Giles realized that for the second time he was standing on the opposite side of Buffy, and he knew from experience that no matter what it seemed at the moment, that it was not where he wanted to be. He closed the book that was still on his hands, took off his glasses and walked on the other side of the room leaving Wesley all alone and Fred, Leo and Tara standing in the middle watching the allies separate.

Present

"Piper." Willow screamed as soon as the three women materialized in the manor.

"Phoebe." Tara screamed without waiting for an answer from the elder Charmed One.

"Why does the house seem so silent?" Fred asked when there was no answer.

Willow waited a couple more seconds and turned, "Ok, Fred check upstairs, I'll look here and…" Before she could finish Tara understood where she had to go and turned and walked towards the basement.

Past

"No, no no no." Kelly screamed on top of her voice when Buffy tried to pull her away from Faith. "I don't want to go with you."

Buffy and Faith's baby had grown at a normal pace for nine months of her life, then she suddenly started to accelerate. That is when they had held the meeting to discuss what were to be done, as only the power of Odan could be the reason for the acceleration.

One month had passed since every one had vowed not to let anyone harm the baby girl whom they had named Kelly and to count on their nurture to let her defeat the evil inside of her. But within that month the baby who had barely started to crawl had become as big as a 5 years old child. She also had developed many powers which Piper was successful to bind. Willow and Fred both had taken the responsibility for Kelly's education and it was Buffy's day to take her to them but Kelly always hated leaving Piper and Faith.

"You know you have to come with me." Buffy tried to stress on her words but she was helpless when she saw her almost in tears face, "Help me out here guys." She looked at the two lovers who were still in bed. Piper got out of the bed fully dressed, which wasn't unusual as whenever it was Faith's turn to keep Kelly, Kelly always slept with them as Faith was too scared to let her sleep alone. She walked over to the little girl who was still holding on to Faith's hand and Faith who was enjoying the attachment. She slowly pulled her hand out and gave her hand to Buffy, "You have to go and learn and you know that. When you come back, mom and I will treat you to my cookies. How about that?" She asked the girl whose eyes melted her heart. "The one with chocolate chips in them?" Kelly asked in her adorable voice. "Yes." Piper promised.

Just after Kelly had left with Buffy, Piper walked over to the closet and took out her jeans and a t-shirt. She walked over to the bed took off her top and said, "You know we have to get rid of crib now."

"Yes, I know. I never thought she would grow so fast." Faith replied.

"Well, we'll find a counter for that soon. We are getting close, so don't worry." Piper told Faith who was concerned that with the rate Kelly was growing she would soon out grow them and they had no idea how to catch up with her.

Piper was half way putting on the clean t-shirt when Faith intercepted her action. Piper looked out of her half on t-shirt surprised. "What's on your mind slayer?" Piper asked teasingly. "Same thing as yours." Faith replied and pulled out the remainder of her t-shirt. "Zeee, even you don't think this t-shirt is wrong for these jeans?" Piper asked teasing the stronger woman. "Yeah, completely wrong, but for you." Faith said and pulled the smaller woman on top of her. "As a matter of fact I think clothing all together is very wrong for you right now." Faith grinned and made her way to undo her bra and place a hungry kiss so that Piper could not reply. Words certainly wasn't needed to communicate their minds from there on. Their hands and fingers and their bodies took over. Clothing was soon shed from their hot bodies burning with want and desire they felt within their hearts. Their skin were enflamed with each touch, lips and their wetness did their best to simmer the intensity, but the only release was the ultimate union that their body mind and soul had craved. When the slayer's tongue found its solace in the Charmed One's core, even the air stopped with her heart. As the legs tangled and the bodies wrapped themselves so close that one couldn't tell that it was two bodies, their soul desire lust united with a single explosive release so powerful that both the women despite their own individual strength felt as though they had both died and gone to heaven and come back into each others arms. Several minutes after they had found their strength and breath back they looked at each other and smiled, Piper knew that no matter what was happening around them, she could always count on love to keep them together. "I love you, Perfect." Faith said unaware of Piper's thought and snuggled with her naked lover.

Present

"They are not in the house." Fred said as the three women gathered in the living room.

"Where do you think they are? Where is Faith?" Willow asked the two women.

"They are not here." Tara answered.

"Can you feel if they are all right?" Willow asked her ex girlfriend.

"No, only Leo can do that, him being their white lighter." Tara answered.

Willow and Fred were looking at each other disappointed when the phone rang.

Past

"Hello!" Piper yelled into receiver while catching her breath. She had come back to the manor after sending Faith to work, just to find the house in a complete chaos. Her sisters were not really the ones whom she could call the cleanest people on earth. So, as soon as she had entered she had started to clean even though she was supposed to be at P3 almost three hours ago.

"Piper! Thank God, you are at home." Said the voice from the other end.

"You! I don't think I want to talk to you." Piper answered annoyed at the caller.

"Please Piper don't hang up. You have to talk to me. Please, I beg of you before its too late." The voice insisted from the other end.

"Ok, speak." Piper gave in because of her curiosity.

"Not over the phone, can I see you?" He asked.

"I am not sure. When?" Piper asked uncertain if she wanted to meet him.

"Now. I am right outside your home. I was scared to ring the bell, scared that you would not react well to my sight." Wesley informed.

Piper walked towards the door with the phone in her hand and opened the door before she answered, "Come on in and talk fast." She said as she hung up and let Wesley in.

"We have to perform the ceremony and we have to do it fast." Wesley dared to say as he entered.

"What are you high? Or did you forget that no one is going to perform the ceremony." Piper said amazed at Wesley's guts.

"But things have changed since then." Wesley answered.

"Like what?" Piper asked.

"Power of Odan is taking over Buffy and Faith too."

"I came here as soon as I could. What's the problem?" Faith asked Buffy as she entered the little apartment that the Scoobies were staying at while in San Francisco.

"You are late but we took care of it." Buffy said as she pointed to the two men confined by red glowing magical bind that Faith knew must have come from Willow.

"Who are these jokers?" Faith asked the room which consisted of Buffy, Willow and Fred.

"They are according to Tara, Athena Brothers, very powerful warlocks who are descendents of the Goddess Athena. They not only possess extreme knowledge of witchcraft and magic but also have powers of Goddess Athena." Fred answered.

"Wicked." Faith exclaimed at the two men. "So what happened they turned bad or something that they are right now our prisoners?" Faith asked.

"Nope, they think they are good. They came to kill our daughter." Buffy said with gritted teeth.

"Well, guys its cool that you think I can actually restrain the powers of a goddess but they are very strong and I won't be able to hold them longer. I suggest you find a way to get rid of them." Willow said just as she collapsed in Fred's arms.

"No, problem Willow I know just what to do with them." Buffy said as she picked up one of the guy and motioned Faith to do the same.

"Yeah, we'll take them to the sisters and make sure their powers are immune to our daughter." Faith said as they walked out of the door.

Buffy shoved both of them in her jeep and started driving without saying a word. It was only when Faith realized that they were not going to the manor when she spoke, "B, where are we headed?"

"We are going to take care of them once and for all." Buffy replied and stopped the car in a deserted corner.

"What do you mean?" Faith had barely managed to ask when Buffy pulled one of the guys out and snapped his head, killing him.

"B! What are you doing? These are the good guys." Faith stopped Buffy from doing the same to the other brother. "We don't have to kill them, Piper can take care of it."

"For how long. I am fed up of temporary fixes. I am not going to let any more goody two shoes coming to attack our daughter." Buffy said as she tried to get away from Faith's arms.

"B! please listen to me. This is not you." Faith begged. During that time the second Athena brother was able to free himself of Willow's magical bind and disappeared before Buffy could get her hands on him.

"Damn it Faith now he'll be back again." Buffy pushed Faith with all her strength frustrated at her.

"And we will be there to protect her." Faith replied as she got up from her fall.

"For how long. You know what we should do, we should unbind her powers so that she can protect herself." Buffy suggested.

"How can you even suggest that?" Faith asked amazed at Buffy's remark.

"How can they even suggest that?" Piper asked amazed at Wesley's remark.

"Oh! They will, I am telling you, and very soon too… Odan is taking over Kelly, and that is influencing both the mothers. Buffy more so than Faith but before long Faith will be as affected too." Wesley replied.

"But they will never tell me to unbind Kelly's powers. After all they are Odan's powers, if I unbind her powers, nothing we do will stop her from turning evil. And they both know that." Piper reconfirmed her belief.

"Yes, but they are themselves giving in because of their love for their daughter. I know for a fact that Buffy has already started to kill Kelly's attackers even if they are of good magic." Wesley told the Charmed One.

"Buffy would never do that." Piper said even though Wesley had just said otherwise.

"Yes, it would be more likely for Faith to do something like that. But this time, Faith has been showing more control, may be because she was just a surrogate mother and the influence hasn't reached her or because of you in her life. But regardless its only matter of time when she'll give in too." Wesley warned.

"You have had your say and I don't believe you. So, you can leave now." Piper said as she pushed the watcher out her door. She didn't want to believe a word he had said.

"Piper listen to me. Just do me a favor. Please." Wesley begged and put his hands on the door before she slammed them. "Please tell me you'll consider to do the ceremony if ever Faith comes to you to unbind her powers." He screamed and the door slammed shut.

Present

"Who was it? What happened?" Willow asked Tara as soon as she hung up.

"It was Christine from P3. She said the sisters are unconscious." Tara informed the awaiting women.

"Let's go then." Willow said hurriedly.

"Wait don't you think we should get some reinforcement, just in case Faith is still there." Fred was expressed her concern remembering the fall she took when Faith had pushed her.

"What reinforcement? Angel would never fight against Faith, especially now that Buffy is dead." Willow explained.

"And Giles and Wesley are best only at pushing their respective glasses up their noses." Tara finished for her ex girlfriend.

"As far as Xander is concerned I don't know if he can sway Faith with stories and Dawny is missing. So, it's just us. Are you in?" Willow asked the science wiz.

"Yes." Fred replied after a little hesitation.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Piper took out the last batch of cookies and laid it on the counter to cool off.

"That's the last one." She sighed and looked at her sister who was peering into her laptop.

"Good." Phoebe said and tried to steal a cookie for herself when Piper hit her hand and warned her with her eyes. "Come on Piper, someone has to taste it to make sure its good."

"Nice try but no." She replied sternly at her one time baby sister. Paige entered the room who had seen the little exchange between her elder siblings and thought she would join in the fun, "Yeah Phoebe don't touch, the cookies are not for you. It's only for those that call her 'Perfect' you know her other perfect family." Ever since Kelly's demands were filling up Piper's oven time, Paige had started to tease her sister about her new found role of motherhood.

"Very funny Paige." Piper replied not minding her sister's sarcasm. "You are my family too, but you guys can take back seat because you are not kids no more."

"But I thought we would always be kids in your eyes." Phoebe said making a fish face for Piper's sympathy, to which Piper just laughed and waved it off with her oven glove and all three sisters shared a heart felt laughter.

When elders had strongly insisted that Piper not be a part of Faith's decision to have the baby, one would have thought a rip would come in their sisterly love but that was not the case. Piper had taken solace in mausoleum where Prue's memory still lived and had decided to be alone to make a choice between the love of her life and the power of three, her destiny that not only affected her but also her sisters who each held a piece of her heart and huge part of her life. She knew that the choice was simple, she had come to ask the sister who had given up her life just to save her sisters, so there was no way that she could give up her sisters' destiny for her happiness. Just when she had wiped her tears and was ready to leave, the two younger siblings had shown up with a decision of their own.

They were not going to let elders take Piper her chance of having a family with someone whom they clearly knew that Piper was so in love with. They were willing to give up the power of three and they didn't let Piper say otherwise. The decision had made them equally sad and happy so much so that they cried tears of both joy and sorrow in front of the lettering that read 'Prudance Halliwell'.

Seeing that the sisters did not leave Faith's side even when the baby was born and when the power of three was taken from them, the elders had once again given them their destiny back. According to Leo the reason they did that was because with the birth of Kelly there was going to be an evil rising, so they needed all their good forces intact. But they didn't care about what the reason was, their sister's girlfriend had given birth to a beautiful girl and they were still the powerful witches fulfilling their destiny, life had seemed perfect.

present

"Christie!" Willow screamed as she entered the empty club.

"They must have closed early." Fred observed following Willow and Tara.

"It doesn't look like there was any fight here." Tara said as she saw that nothing was broken.

They had just reached the bar area when Christie the manager of P3 walked in.

"Thank God you are here. I didn't know what to do, I wanted to call the cops but Piper had always insisted that if I ever found any one of them hurt to call Darrel and nobody else. When I called him he told me to call the house just in case…"

"Christie its ok." Tara interrupted the nervous woman. "We are here; just tell me where they are."

The frightened woman led them inside Piper's office where Piper and Paige laid on the floor unconscious but without any visible wounds. As soon as Tara saw the sisters she knelt down, and looked up at Christie. Fred understood the white lighter's hesitation and led the manager away for a drink to calm her nerves.

"Here you go, take a shot. It'll help you." Fred said as she handed Christie a drink.

"So, where is Phoebe?" Fred asked after the woman seemed a little more calmer than before.

"Phoebe." She repeated the name oblivious.

"Yeah, you know the third sister." Fred made a little joke to bring the woman back to reality as she thought she was still disoriented. "Oh! God don't tell me. She ran and Faith ran after her." Fred exclaimed voicing her worst fear.

"What are you talking about?" The blue eyed woman asked surprised. "Phoebe never came here nor did Faith."

"What????" Fred asked in disbelief.

"Yes, Phoebe is still at the manor. We thought it would do us good so we came to the club to calm us a little, but Phoebe decided to stay behind." Newly healed by Tara's white lighter powers Paige replied to the concerned women.

"And Faith never came here. Not when we were here." Piper finished her sister's answer.

"Then why were you two unconscious?" Willow asked.

"I don't know." Christie said. "I was in the room with them; they wanted to see the books of the last year for some reason. I turned around to take the book off the shelf and when I turned back, both of them were pale as a ghost like their blood was being drawn out. I thought they were getting some kind of a stoke. But both of them at the same time, it just freaked me out. It lasted for a good minute or two and they collapsed to the ground." She gulped down another shot. "I have never ever seen anything like it."

"Oh no!" Fred said it to herself as the realization hit her and she dashed to Piper's office.

Willow opened the door once again to be face to face with Fred. "Phoebe wasn't in the manor." Both the women voiced it staring into each other's face in disbelief. Tara immediately realized what that meant and panicked. She turned to the sisters just to catch Piper staring blankly and sitting in the chair. The four women stared at the older woman paused in a stance. "I remember." Piper said finally.

"What?" Tara asked naively.

"Everything." It was Paige who answered. 

Past

"This is it." Phoebe sighed as she handed the spell to her younger sister. "This is the lost spell and it'll activate just as the protection spell."

"Good. You think these are all the spells we need?" Paige asked nervously.

"Let's hope it is enough." Phoebe wished aloud.

Phoebe didn't look up when she said that as even though she hoped it better. She knew that the chances for Kelly to survive were…

"Not good." Piper replied honestly.

"Then why do you want to do it?" Faith asked her girlfriend.

"Because you asked me to." Piper once again replied honestly.

"I know but that was the mother in me. You know B got me all worked up so I agreed for a moment to ask you to unbind her powers. But now I see the bigger picture." Faith admitted.

"No, Faith Buffy is right. We cannot always be there to protect her and if we unbind her powers then…"

"But you just told me that the chances of her being good were not good so why would you…"

"Because can't you see, her pinned up evil powers are surfacing from Buffy and very soon from you. She is a child we will figure a way out for her but I don't know how we can have two slayers turn evil. You know what that will do to the balance of good and evil. And most of all I need you on my side. On our side." She turned to her lover and cupped her face in her hands allowing her to see how vulnerable she felt for her love.

"What makes you think that any forces good or evil can ever make me not be by your side?" Faith asked her sweetheart.

"I don't know. I am just scared." Piper admitted to her insecurity guiltily.

Faith slowly moved and kissed Piper with the softest touch of her own lips. "Trust me. Trust our love." She said with her eyes closed.

"I do." Piper replied with the same sincerity. "But with the way our life is, I don't know if we can count on love to keep us together."

Faith opened her eyes and for the first time saw in Piper's eyes the fear that she had been living with ever since Kelly was born. This wasn't the first time Piper had doubted Faith's love for her, so Faith knew exactly how to convince the smaller woman. She smiled and dipped the dark hair beauty in her arms and planted the most sensual kiss for the longest moment. "Yes you can count on love." She said as their eyes looked into each others drowning in the waves of their love and passion.

"Why are you grinning so much? Come on you can tell me. I promise I won't tell anyone." She said to the blond slayer.

"You promise?" Buffy asked grinning from ear to ear.

"Yes." She replied.

"Faith is coming home." Buffy replied with an even wider grin.

"You mean she is breaking up with Piper?" She said shocked.

"Not yet but very soon." Buffy replied.

"How? Why?" Asked her surprised confidant.

"Because I convinced Faith to ask the witch to unbind Kelly's powers. Of course the witch is not going to agree to it. Her being all goody two shoes and all and then they are going to break up over that."

"Why would you want to unbind Kelly's powers? Then she'll be evil."  
"Oh! Come on. Who cares? Only thing that matters is her, Faith and me. As long as we are together, life is nifty."

"But Buffy what if they don't break up?"

"Then I guess I just have to do what I should have done long ago." Buffy replied.

"What is that?" She asked scared of the Chosen One's intention.

"Kill her."

Present

"But Phoebe was not in the manor." Tara said nervously.

"Let's go there." Paige said as she grabbed her sister's hand.

Fred quickly told Christie to let them be and closed the door as the five women orbed and appeared in the attic of the manor.

Present but few hours earlier

Phoebe flipped the channels without even giving a moment to watch what was on. She finally gave up and got up. She threw the remote in the couch and walked towards the stairs. Her mind was basically blank as she walked up to her room, she had just opened the door when she turned around and looked at the stairs. Something about it made her go towards it. She didn't know why but she walked slowly upstairs to the attic. Since they had woken up that morning, they had come to the attic number of times than she could ever imagine she had done in one day in her entire life. Yet, right then, staring at the same room didn't not feel the same no more. She walked slowly to the center of the room which had been the point of many of their vanquishes and summons. She looked down as though she knew what she was seeing even though it was just the floor.

Before she realized what she was doing she heard her voice chant a spell.

"Everything that is unseen

Hidden due to powers greater than me

Unveil I command

As I am One from the power of Three."

Present

"Everything that is unseen

Hidden due to powers greater than me

Unveil I command

As I am One from the power of Three."

Piper said as soon as they appeared in the attic, but to her dismay nothing happened. She repeated it one more time. Then she looked at Paige and she joined her sister even though she had no idea what Piper expected to see.

"Everything that is unseen

Hidden due to powers greater than we

Unveil we command

As we are Two from the power of Three."

They waited once again and were once again disappointed. Piper walked to the center of the room and knelt down. She could not believe that it wasn't working. Fear of what might have happened filled her eyes with tears.

"Piper what are you trying to do?" Paige asked as she had no idea what Piper wanted to unveil just as she had no idea what Piper's plan was to save Kelly.

The other woman in the room that was panicking was Tara. Willow knew so and she turned to look at the blond woman and knew that she needed help. Even though Willow didn't know what Piper was looking for but she knew that she had enough powers to make it happen. Willow took a step forward and recited

"Everything that is unseen

Hidden due to powers greater than me

With all powers ever in me

Unveil I command thee"

Past couple of hours earlier

Before Phoebe even had a time to recover from her automatic recitation of the spell, she was awoken from her semi dazed state as she knew what she was staring at; a puddle of blood right in the center. She approached it a little scared of what she was looking at. Just then a most ugly looking skin peeled monster jumped out of the blood.

"Witch, you betrayed me." He growled at her.

Phoebe had no idea who the monster was and what he was talking about and she voiced her confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Witch I don't have time for this. My daughter has suffered for long enough and I have waited long enough, now its time for what you promised me." The monster growled.

"What did I promise you?" Phoebe asked.

"Sacrifice."

Present

"Sacrifice?" Willow asked surprised.

"Yes. Wesley had completely misread the ancient text. When I summoned Odan he told me that he never killed his own child. He loved his child, that's why he gave both the slayer and the first equal powers. The reason why slayer became good was because of the power of good that was sacrificed for her which was then used to counter her evil yet be of use to her. So, for Kelly to suppress her powers she needed a sacrifice of an equal or greater good power." Piper explained her real motive for the first time. Paige was shocked to hear her sister's explanation as she remembered that she wasn't told any of it before. She was also couldn't figure out why Piper had lied to them.

"Let me guess. You were going to sacrifice the Power of Three to save Kelly?" Paige asked furious because if her sister had asked she or Phoebe would have gladly done so to save a child but her sister had not trusted them enough to let them in on it. "And you thought we wouldn't have done it. Kelly wasn't anything to us? We didn't love her enough?"

"No, Paige no." Piper begged her sister to stop with tears in her eyes. "I knew that you would have gladly agreed to it, but it wasn't that simple."

Tara had stayed quiet for too long. She wasn't interested in Piper's tears or her pain, all she cared about was Phoebe and the two sisters to her seemed to have forgotten that. She walked up to the oldest witch and grabbed her with a fury that very rarely surfaced in the blonde white lighter. "Where is Phoebe? What happened to her?" She asked.

"Odan said that Kelly would be good and the slayer bloodline would not turn evil only if a greater sacrifice could be made on her behalf. But the sacrifice had to be of the blood to clense the blood. So, I offered him myself."

"What? You offered your life. What were you thinking?" Paige screamed realizing what she had become a part of. "You telling me you made us a part of your suicide scheme."

"There was no other way. This way every mistake done wrong would be righted. My death would cleanse the slayer bloodline. And I knew that Phoebe and you would understand it ultimately, but the one I was scared about was Faith. Even though Faith and even Buffy, because once the pull of evil would go away, I knew that even Buffy wouldn't accept my death for their daughter. So, I came up with a perfect plan." Piper paused to collect her thoughts.

"To erase their memory of you so that they would be together." Willow finally was able to second her theory that the memory spells were for the slayers and not the charmed ones.

"And all the fail safe in the spell so that they would not get their memory back, until and unless they were ready to face it." Paige added as she herself was thinking back and making her own conclusions.

"Seems like a brilliant plan. But, why is it that you are the ones without memory and Kelly the one who is dead?" Fred asked.

"Everything was going according to the plan. I had both Buffy and Faith that I was unbinding Kelly's powers and had got her to the manor. I had made sure that Phoebe and Paige were pre occupied with few demons that I had summoned. Then I called for Odan. He wanted me to draw Kelly's blood. Just then Faith came. I froze her but I knew that she would fight that in no time, so I hurridly took the dragger and slit Kelly's wrist. What I didn't realize was that Faith saw it. I panicked. I knew I had to use the spell then…" Piper paused as she tried to remember that night.

Tara whose patience had timed out, took the eldest Charmed One's shoulder and turned her to face the blonde. "Then what?"

Piper desperately wanted to answer the white lighter but all she could say was, " I don't know."

Past

"What do you mean you don't know?" Leo asked aggravated at what he was hearing.

"I mean the spell didn't exactly work the way I thought it would." She replied a little scared of the white lighter's anger.

"What spell? You told me nothing about the spell when you asked me to do the favor. All you said that it was vital and that it would solve everything." Leo couldn't believe the woman in front of him; more than that he couldn't believe that he actually let her use him.

"Yes, it was meant to solve our problems." She answered.

"How?"

"Well, you don't know how Buffy had got. Not only was she getting possed by evil but she was also getting more and more obsessed with Faith. I knew that if she didn't get Faith soon she would do something drastic like try and kill them. As a matter of fact she told me that herself. So, I thought."

"What?" Leo grabbed the woman and made sure she saw the anger in his eyes. "What did you think?"

"I thought if Piper was out of Faith's life. Faith would come back to Buffy and that would solve everyone's problem because then the Charmed One's would not be involved with slayer's faith just like the elders and you wanted. The slayers would be together and with Faith in her life Buffy would be ok." She explained crying over her foolishness. "I tried to find a spell to do so but Willow's spells were just too powerful not something that I could use. Then I found the one that Amy used on Willow. It let the person choose her own punishment. It was perfect as Piper loved Faith so the punishment she would choose for herself would be to have Faith out of her life. So, when I begged you to take me to the manor, I put that spell on Piper but nothing happened."

"Of course nothing happened the spell was waiting for the right moment." Leo said barely audible as he let go of the smaller woman and computed what that spell had effected the events of that day. Piper's mind had punished herself by backfiring her own spell due to which everything that Piper had planned to save Kelly was now on hold and rather they now had two slayers with their memory intact and a dead daughter, not to forget Charmed One with the blood in her hands. Leo needed to find a way out of it, he needed to warn the Charmed One's as to what had happened. Just as he took a step to the door light appeared over him.

"What is happening?" The woman asked between her sobs.

"The elders. They are not happy about my intrusion. They are not going to let me come down now. I know. Listen. You have to make it right. You have just set the slayers and the Charmed One's against each other, I don't know how but make it right. Remember who you are." Leo words just escaped as he was orbed.

The woman who didn't know what else to do but cry about what she had done just stared at the empty space as Leo's last words echoed in her mind.

"Remember who you are."

Past Few hours earlier

Faith stared at the door to the manor for as long as she could. She had marched there with the anger in her heart but when she had reached the door and realized that there was no barrier no more, she hesitated. She wasn't sure if she really wanted to kill Piper. Piper the woman who had taught her what love was; Piper the woman who had actually brought her home. A home, she thought as she looked at the manor. Tears that rarely found her eyes seemed to fill them then. She closed her eyes trying to get rid of whatever that was making her feel so week. She tried to force her mind to remember the blood she saw pouring through Kelly's hands and Piper slit them. She had fought Piper's power to stop it. She remembered that. Then Piper had recited the spell. After that everything was a blank. She tried to remember what had happened after that but there was nothing. She didn't care no more. She had managed to remember the blood from her daughter's hands, the dragger in Piper's. She had managed to wipe her tears with her anger once again. She looked up, at the attic where Kelly was dying. She decided to climb up and visit where daughter lied last before she avenged her death.

When she reached the window the scene that she saw shocked her. One of the most horrifying looking demon that she had ever seen was holding Phoebe with is powers and was just about to slit her throat. Faith didn't wait to think; she sprung to her feet and kicked the demon with all her might. But she wasn't even able to move a hair in him. Instead she bounced back on the floor with all her weight.

"Slayer." The demon said as he paused.

"Well, I like it when I am famous." Faith replied in her patented cocky way.

"You are not like the other one. I like that." He said looking at her and admiring her.

"I am glad you approve. Now get that dragger out of her throat." Faith ordered the demon.

"You don't know who I am?" Odan asked his descendent.

"Sorry, got too many fans to keep track of them." Faith said as she alerted herself for any kind of a surprise. She also took a quick peek at Phoebe who was unconscious but she could tell that she was still alive.

"I am Odan. Your fore father." Odan replied but didn't let go of the dragger or Phoebe.

"Wow, good I went after my mother." Faith replied a little light hearted. "If you are trying to avenge Kelly's murderer, that's the wrong witch."

"Kelly is not dead."

Present

"The ceremony was halted but Kelly never died." Fred told the women as she finished reading the ceremonial inscription that Piper had followed. "Just summon Odan and try and get Kelly back."

"What about the sacrifice?" Willow asked.

"I am still ready to make the sacrifice that I promised him." Piper told her audience.

"What has this got to do with Phoebe?" Tara asked.

"I don't know but I have a feeling Odan has an answer to that." Paige said making a conclusion in her mind that no one wanted to admit.

Piper on the other hand refused to make the same assessment. "No, I promised him my life. He certainly couldn't have…"

"Summon Odan." Tara ordered the sisters refusing to agree with their conclusion.

The two sisters held hands and recited.

"Fire & earth

Light & Dark

Father of Both

Odan the creator of All

Hear our Call

Appear for the Power of Halliwell."

Past few hours ago

"You mean Piper was sacrificing herself to save Kelly." Faith sat down as the realization hit her. Her feet couldn't hold her body that was weakening due to guilt of her thoughts for the woman who was making the ultimate sacrifice for her daughter. She couldn't believe that she was actually thinking of killing Piper. She watched her hands that was getting soaked with her tears.

"You are missing the point. Kelly is alive. Her sacrifice is needed to bring her to life." Odan growled at his daughter. He couldn't believe that with all his power in her, she was still so weak.

"She is not Piper. She is her sister." Faith said through her tears.

"I don't care. She possesses exactly what the other offered. My daughter lies there." He pointed to the puddle of blood. "She is suffocating."

Faith looked at the demon and then at Phoebe who lied helpless in his arms. She saw the dragger approach her throat again. She ran and put her hands in between.

"There has to be some other way. Please no more blood." Faith begged on her knees.

"There is none. The witch understood that." Odan said.

"You have been tainted by your love for that witch." Odan said as he watched Faith cry with dilemma. "Let me make it simple for you." He gave the dragger to Faith and made her hold it. Then he put Phoebe's unconscious body in front of her. "It's her life for your daughters. Make a choice slayer." He stepped back and disappeared in the puddle of blood.

Present

"Why isn't anything happening?" Paige asked frustrated that none of their spells were working. The more helpless they felt the more evident it was becoming that the worst had happened.

"No, don't even think that. Phoebe is alive." Tara said trying to wipe her tears that just didn't seem to stop. "Willow." She faced her ex girlfriend once again for help.

Willow for the second time stepped forward.

"Fire and Earth

Light and Dark

Father of Both

Odan the creator of All

Hear my Call

For the possessor of dark magic

Appear in front of all."

A dark smoke filled the room and the women gathered together as an instinct. Odan did appear but he was not amused at their call.

"What now witch?" He screamed at them.

"Where is Phoebe?" Piper asked as she stepped forward.

"You dare to speak to me?" Odan growled as he recognized her. "You betrayed me, witch. You lied. You let my daughter lie in blood."

"No." Piper said as she broke into tears once again. "Something went wrong. I lost my memory. Now I am here. Take my life. Bring Kelly to life."

"It is done." Odan said with no remorse.

"What do you mean?" Paige asked unable to make her believe the obvious. Odan didn't say anything and just smiled at the youngest one. "Speak or else." Paige threatened the father of slayers.

"Or else what witch. Didn't you realize yet? You are not the all powerful Charmed any more. Your powers can't touch me." Odan laughed at the sisters and disappeared.

While the sisters were composing themselves Tara had stepped away from the group and orbed away silently to be alone with her tears. 

"Where to?" The woman in the counter asked as she counted the money.

"Anywhere but here." The woman replied.

"How far?" The clerk asked.

"Furthest there is." Faith replied and knelt down and said to her daughter, "Just a second sweetheart."

"But Mom why are we leaving?" Kelly asked confused.

"Because we have to?"

"Is Perfect coming too?" Kelly asked optimistically.

"No, she is not." Faith said swallowing her tears.

"But why? You said you and Perfect would always be together." Kelly complained.

"I know. But sometimes things happen in life when no matter how much you want something, it is just not possible." Faith cried unable to hold her tears.

"But Perfect said that as long as we love each other…"

Faith put a finger to interrupt her daughter's words.

"We can't always count on love."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

The sun had come up faithfully just as every other day. Piper rose out of her bed slowly and walked downstairs. She put the coffee on brew and walked outside to get the newspaper. She returned back, poured herself a cup and sat down peering at the headlines. Just then she heard footsteps rushing down the stairs. Piper instinctively held on to her coffee cup as Phoebe rushed in with her laptop in a hurry as usual.

"Who's chasing you?" Piper asked even though she knew the answer.

"Oh! Just Paige." Phoebe replied as she grabbed Pru's mug and emptied out the coffee in it.

"She did it again." Paige whined without even looking at the pot. "I can't believe you let her empty the pot again." Paige cried to her eldest sister. Piper didn't even look up at her siblings' daily little quarrel. She simply raised her coffee cup for Paige. "Have mine. I'll make another one." She said as she let go of the cup. Fraction of a second latter the cup hit the floor and shattered along with Piper's day dream. Piper looked up at the empty room and the silence around it.

Piper stared at the broken pieces just as she stared at her empty home. It had been over two years since the night they had all stood in the attic and cried for Phoebe. And since then Piper had broken many such mugs and other article when her mind wander beyond the realm of reality.

Phoebe's death had devastated both the sisters. Paige in the beginning converted her grief into anger and sought Odan for revenge. But it wasn't long before Darrel had come baring the news that Faith's finger prints were on the dragger covered with Phoebe's blood. The news had shattered Piper's last remaining piece of heart so hard that Piper had lost consciousness for days. When she woke up in the hospital, Willow had informed her that Paige had left for good.

Even though both the sisters had realized that Kelly and Faith had disappeared, they both had hoped that Faith wasn't directly involved in Kelly's rise. When their hope was broken Paige had finally given up and cried for hours as she didn't have it in her to want revenge from a woman who simply chose her own child. Instead she couldn't stop thinking about where it all started and the buck stopped at Piper; Piper, who had betrayed them by lying to them, Piper, who had decided on her own to be the sacrifice. Sometimes when she really missed Phoebe she even blamed Piper for screwing up the memory spell. When she couldn't forgive Piper because of whom she felt Phoebe was gone, she decided it was best for her to leave and never look back. For the second time in her life death had stolen her family.

Scully finally found a spot after fifteen minutes and pulled in. After she parked the car she got out and started walking briskly towards the building that read NYPD. She did not want to come to New York City, but as usual Mulder had managed to drag her there. After three days in the city they still were not able to find out anything about the mysterious man that NYPD had in custody.

She stood in front of the door and took a deep breath to prepare herself for everything Molder would throw at her today. She opened the door and walked into an empty room. She was still staring in a little bit of surprise when someone tapped on her shoulders.

"Agent Mulder is in the basement." Detective Stabler said as he guilded the red headed Agent to the basement of the department.

About a month ago, a man was found in the streets of New York City with a woman's body next to her. The woman's body was drained out of her blood as though someone had put a pump and mechanically drained her blood out. As for the man he was unharmed and not a spot of blood was on him. The man was taken into custody by Detective Stabler and Benson of NYPD's SVU (Special Victims Unit). Though it was most logical that it was the man who killed the woman, they just didn't have any evidence. They hit a wall after trying to talk to the man who just refused to speak and just stared at the sun. It was then that Detective Olivia Benson had decided to do some research on the victim and the way she was killed. While doing so, she was referred to FBI's departed of X-files who claimed to have seen murder done in such a manner. When she had called on their help hoping to get some pages of case history, she was surprised that Agent Mulder with his partner wanted to come and personally be involved in the case. Though a little hesitant at first, both the detective welcomed their help if it could make their suspect talk and solve their case.

"Even here they moved you to the basement Mulder." Scully joked as she got down the last few steps.

"What can I say? Me and the basement are made for each other." Mulder replied being a sport. "And here is something I want you to see."

Scully walked to where Mulder stopped. In front of them was an old fashioned metal barred cell, inside which was a dark man with pitch black eyes standing solemnly and staring at nothing in particular.

"He is the same guy; our guy who looked as white as a ghost." Scully asked unable to believe her eyes.

"One and only." Detective Benson replied. "Agent Mulder came up with an idea this morning and we decided to bring him away from the sunlight and as deep dark as we could find. And here he is with color back and he even started to talk few words."

"Really, what words?" Scully asked.

"Mostly gibrish or foreign language." Detective Stabler answered unenthusiastically.

"Yeah. Things like Tala, Sancho. Sancho. Sancho." Detective Benson finished for her partner.

"I can draw his blood and try and see what is happening to him physically." Agent Scully offered a solution.

"I don't think you can draw his blood." Mulder answered.

"Why not?" Scully asked as all three of them stared at him.

"One of the words or might I say sentence he said was." He paused to look into Scully's eyes as he spoke. "Slayer here."

She knocked on the door and waited. She listened hard for any noise from inside, but there was none. She knocked again and waited for few more seconds. She checked both the sides out of habit even though there was no reason to do so. Just as she was about to knock again the door flew open. "It's about time." The short dark haired beauty said as she pulled her inside.

It didn't take her long to find her once she was inside. How could she miss it? After all she sat on the same corner bar table every night as Christine had told her. Willow sighed in disappointed and thought about how time had played with them as she walked to the bar corner.

"Well well well. Look who is here." Piper rejoiced when she saw the red head approaching. "Bartender one round for me and my friend." She hugged Willow with one hand and pulled the stool to sit next to her.

"Piper what is happening?" Willow asked saddened by the course the Halliwell had chosen. She asked every time she came by and she had made it a point to come by often enough to keep an eye on the fallen hero.

Life had not been an easy thing to go back to for Willow either. There had been more death of the loves ones than she could handle. Tears had found a permanent outlet for a while but then even they dried up. Bright sun reminded them constantly that they were alive which was more painful that burning in the sun light for a vampire. Scoobies that once was the sole reason for her existence was no more. Xander and Anya moved away unable to live with haunted memories of Buffy. Giles moved back to England to prepare the watchers for the day Kelly might seek their help. Wesley had followed Giles but Giles had assured Willow that Wesley would not have any decision making power in the council. As for heart broken Tara, she had found solace in her destiny. She rarely visited Sunnydale or San Francisco but because of Willow she checked in once in a while.

Fred rejoined Angel and his team in Los Angels.

Willow on the other hand took a completely different stride. She couldn't move away because she felt as though she owed it to Buffy to stay in Sunnydale in case Dawn returned, who had run away the day of the funeral. Willow also felt responsible for the Charmed Ones' demise and decided to keep an eye on the remaining two sisters even though they themselves decided to be miles apart.

Both women attacked each other with a hunger that was almost primitive. There were no words spoken, there was no light shown, and there was nothing that remotely reminded them of anything than the raw desire for fulfillment. They both tore each others clothes and tossed and turned one another to get the maximum taste of the heat that encapsulated in the core of their woman hood. Only sound that filled the dark room was the moaning of two incredibly beautiful and naked women whose every limb, bare skin and every angle formed entangled with each other yet somehow didn't seem to fit even though they ecstatically melded as the echoes of the scream of unified climax replaced their impatient moans.

It took the short haired beauty about five minutes to recover from her ordeal. Once she opened her eyes and realized it was over, she got up naked and walked to her kitchen. She walked back with two chilled beer.

"Here." She said as she offered.

Faith turned around and took a sip of the beer before she said thanks.

"I am sorry I called you in such a rush. I just needed to get it out." The woman apologized as she slipped back into the covers with Faith.

"It's five by five. I saw how much you needed it." Faith replied.

"Yeah, I had working with this colleague and I just so felt such a rush of want. But you know with my line of work…" She wanted to share where she was coming from to Faith.

"Hey, chill. I don't need to know and I don't care. You could have pictured me as your colleague or as Angelina Jolie, it doesn't be." Faith clearly didn't want to know anything.

"I know." She said apologetically. "But I am always Perfect." She said regaining her interest.

Faith didn't say a word as she sipped the beer and regretted the day she had let loose and a little and told her that she always pictured her as Perfect to be able to touch her.

"You still love her don't you?" She asked sincerely wanting to know.

Faith got up silently and started to put on her clothes. From the corner of her eyes Faith saw her staring blankly into the space.

"Its ok you know." Faith finally said once she was fully dressed.

"What's ok?" She asked confused.

"She is gone. She has been gone for a while. I know its no one's fault. But by now you know she is not coming back. So, it's ok for you to like someone and want someone else for a change." Faith offered her insight.

Faith sat next to her friend and put her hand on hers. "Alex would want you to move on. Not just have booty calls, and let every opportunity slip by."

"Then why don't you move on?" Olivia turned the question around.

"It's different. And as far as I am concerned I have moved on." Faith replied and looked away quickly so that her eyes would betray her.

"Really, what would happen if she were here?" Olivia asked knowing that it was her friend who was hanging on to her past more than she was.

Whenever Olivia got into the mood of trying to get Faith to talk about her emotion, especially about Piper, Faith turned into a mime. She always refused to answer any assumption Olivia had.

"I know what would happen. You would run right back into her arms." Olivia sighed as she gave up trying to tell her friend to get out of her past.

"No, that's impossible." Faith replied this time.

"Why is it impossible?" She asked.

"Because, we both had to make choices that hurt the other." Piper replied.

"I know but it was due to the circumstances." Willow refused to give up on the couple.

"Yeah but think about it Willow, I killed Kelly. Even though for the purpose of rising her and she killed Phoebe. How can any one of us forget that?"

"If she were here tomorrow…"

"I hope not." Piper stopped Willow before she could finish. "I know I still love her, but what am I to say? Yes, you killed my sister and I understand the reason why now lets just pick up where we left." Piper paused and laughed at the irony of her life. "I don't think so."

"So, what would happen if she was here?" Willow asked again.

"I don't know. But I just hide out here and refuse to move and inch hoping that we would not cross paths."

Leo waited outside the door patiently without making a single sound. Just as he saw her come out, he made his move but he wasn't fast enough. She suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned around. 

The first one dusted into thin air as she moved past the cloud to attack the second one. Faith had just left the apartment and had found herself being attacked by half a dozen vampires. Even as she dusted the low lives one by one she could feel it in her gut that she was being watched. She looked into the shadows of the buildings every chance she got but the vampires kept her occupied. As she jumped on one of the ugly ones she saw what her eye sought in the far corner. She stood up and strode towards the silhouette, not dusting the two more remaining creatures on her way. Before she could stop the figure came out of the shadow and showed itself.

"You!" Faith exclaimed in surprise.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were imprisoned by the elders." Paige asked her former white lighter.

"Elders don't imprison they just wanted me to learn my lesson, and now I have." Leo replied to the youngest Halliwell.

"Well, congratulation." Paige said happy for him. "So, what brings you here?"

"I had a mission for you and Piper." Leo answered.

"A mission. I don't know if you have heard. We are not the Charmed Ones anymore. You know the power of three gone as there is no three here." Paige made fun of their situation.

"I know but this is something only you and Piper can do. Paige you have to help out here it's a matter of grave importance." Leo begged.

"It always is Leo. Haven't you learnt that already." Paige disregarded Leo's plea.

"Don't tell me you still blame Piper?" Leo asked unable to determine the reason for her disinterest.

Paige looked down and pondered for a minute, "No, I have stopped blaming her. Doesn't mean I still don't hate the way Phoebe had to go."

"I know, but don't you think that Phoebe would have never wanted you two separate."

"I know. I just don't know how to go back." Paige confessed.

"May be magic can be your link to go back home." Leo offered.

"I don't know Leo." Paige answered pessimistically.

"Look, this mission needs you and Piper. Now, I could not approach Piper because she doesn't care no more. A demon attacked the manor and she sat out there waiting for him to kill her. Fortunately Willow had put a spell around her because of which she was saved. But if I go to her to save the world she would just welcome it rather than prevent it. Please don't tell me you feel the same."

"No, I don't think the world should be destroyed."

"Then please help me. You are the only one who could bring Piper out of her own sentence."

"Ok Leo you talked me into it. What is the mission?"

"She is." Leo said as he handed her a picture of a stunningly beautiful woman.

"Who is she?" Paige asked.

"Saleena."

"Saleena!" Faith exclaimed once again. "What are you doing here?"

"Why an old friend can't visit?" The beauty answered as the two old friends interlocked in a hug.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING WARNING  
  
The character Saleena is borrowed from the movie "Underworld". Disclosure definitely is that I don't own the character/s or the story line.

The following chapter is a major spoiler for the movie and it continues after the end of the movie. Story of the movie will be outlined in the conversation of the characters so one does not need to see the movie to understand. But if you visit the you can see the sexy Kate Beckinsale in action and know the reason why she has been in my mind and why I just had to include her in my web of words.

Just a little background to continue my story, I am assuming that the whole Underworld story happened in Boston when Faith was there. And as obvious from the last chapter Saleena and Faith had become friends.

This chapter is also rated R. 

Chapter – 12

"She is a vampire?" Piper asked both Paige and Leo holding the photograph.

Piper was delighted when Paige had called to say that she was coming. She had got so excited that she had basically told Willow to get out, just in case Paige got upset seeing her with the ex Scoobie. Even though Willow didn't like being shoved off, she understood the reason why Piper wanted to please her sister with every means possible.

After entering P3 Paige was very disappointed to find Piper drunk but thankfully drunkenness was a physical attribute and Leo cured it with a whiff of his hand. As soon as Piper seemed fine, Paige decided to be direct and started sharing the mission detail. It killed Piper to see Paige being all about business, with no hug, with no 'I missed you' sentiment spoken, but Piper made up her mind that she would do everything in her means to win back her sister. She wanted her family back.

"Yes, but they are a different tribe of vampires." Leo answered.

"Millions of years ago a village were struck by a plague. Everyone died except one man. He was believed to be the first immortal. Over the years he fathered two sons, one was bitten by a bat and the other by the werewolf, hence the vampires and the werewolves." Mulder looked up as he finished reading.

"Are you telling me that's the origin of all the vampires?" Scully asked confused by what she was hearing and what she had learnt from Buffy.

The man in custody had finally managed to say more than just few words. He basically tried to warn them about a certain vampire named Saleena. Mulder had right away gone into research mode and found a translated text faxed to him from Boston which he was reading for Scully.

"No, this is how this tribe of vampires came into being." Mulder corrected Scully's connection.

"The text doesn't say the reason why but the werewolves and vampires became enemies, hunting each other. But it does say that Saleena is the vampire who fell in love with a werewolf." Mulder finished.

"So the werewolf and vampires are enemies and they fall is love. So, how is that a major apocalypse?" Scully asked her partner.

"Because it's forbidden." Leo provided the most simplistic answer.

"There is a lot of that going around in our reality." Piper squinted her eyes not being able to shallow the reasoning.

"Victor, the vampire who turned Saleena killed his own daughter for falling in love with a werewolf or Lycans as they call them. Since then the vampires and the Lycans hunted each other, even though most of the new vampires including Saleena had no idea about the origin of the feud. Victor treated Saleena like his own daughter and trained her to be death dealers, who were a group trained just to kill Lycans. But, after Saleena came to know about the reason, she disregarded Victor's wish and fell for a Lycan. When Victor tried to kill her love, she killed him." Leo told the sisters.

"Wow she is a bitch." Piper exclaimed.

"Well, it's not really that black and white. Victor actually had killed her whole family and lied to her by telling her that the Lycans had done so. It was more of a revenge for her." Leo defended the vampire.

"So she is just an angel in Vampire's body. What else is new?" The more she heard the story more Piper's inside started to churn. She walked up to the corner and opened the bottle of vodka; she needed more than a smirk in her face to keep her knees clam.

"The text does not have anything else." Mulder said as he looked up at his partner.

"Well where does our dead girl and the guy fit into the picture?" Scully asked unable to find any connection.

"Here is a connection, but I don't know if it's enough." Mulder said as he turned the page into a picture of a Vampire hooked up to hundreds of small tubes that looked like blood was being pumped into his body.

"This tribe has one ruler per century. When the end of the century comes, high council of vampires gathers and drains the blood off the current ruler and wakens the other ruler. While the rest of them are laid to rest. Because these Vampire skin is self healing there is no marks after the blood is drained." Mulder waited for Scully to take in what he had just said.

"That woman found beside our man, was a vampire." Scully widened her eyes in realization. "Or a vampire in rest."

"And I feel our guy is one too. He must have been awoken and he fled with her in his arms. Because the process was not complete he must have collapsed. According to Detectives' report he has always avoided sunlight. Once I put him in the basement he must have started to regain some of his strength as they basement as minimum infiltration of sunlight." Mulder finished his own conclusion.

"But what has this to do with the slayer." Scully asked again.

"I don't know but the time frame when Saleena killed Victor is the same as when Faith was in Boston, so I am assuming they must have crossed path." Mulder answered.

"So Faith is here." Scully said under her breath.

"Yes." Mulder replied in barely a whisper.

Scully walked in and put her briefcase on the couch. She was exhausted from trying to finish all the reports, as usual Mulder was of no help at all. She closed her eyes and laid back for a minute or two when she realized the silence in the house. She got up and did a quick search and there was no one there. She didn't know if was relieved or disappointed regardless she decided to take a shower. She walked into the bathroom with her towel and started to undress. Once finished and stark naked she pulled the shower curtain to be staring into the most beautiful blue eyes. "Buffy!" That was all she could manage to say when the blond slayer pulled her inside. "Yes." Buffy said as she pulled the older woman into a kiss. "Yes to what?" Scully asked as she managed to pull herself from the blond for a second. "Yes, I'll go to Washington with you." Buffy replied and stopped Scully's verbal reaction with her lips and let her hands roam freely in the sexy Agent's assets. Scully didn't complain as she pushed the younger woman to the wall and showered her with her thanks. Before Scully's hungry mouth could reach the Buffy's heart, the impatient slayer took the FBI Agent's hand and put them on top of her head. She smiled cunningly as she stuck out her tongue and traced it along her neck and then moved lower. Her hands loosened as she traced it lower to her stomach, then to the hips. The slayer then looked up at the red head who was totally engrossed in the sensation. Buffy smiled to herself as she knelt down and eyed her prize as her hands skillfully lifted her leg on her shoulder to make her excess easy. Scully looked down to watch the satisfaction in Buffy's eyes just before she dived in for her heart's desire.

"Is that the door bell?" Buffy asked turning the shower off.

"Sounds like it. I'll go, I am all clean." Scully offered and got out of the shower.

"Tell them to go away and come right back in for round two." Buffy tempted the FBI Agent.

"You are on." Scully replied as she put on the gown and rushed to the door.

Scully was still drying to her hair when she opened the door. "Giles!" Scully greeted smiling.

"Scully" Mulder tugged his partner to bring her back from her thoughts. "You ok?" He asked.

Scully shook her thoughts out of her head as she stood up. "I don't know Mulder, if he is a Vampire and the slayer is on their look out, it's not our fight."

"The last time you walked out saying its not our fight, we were called for funeral." Mulder knew about where Scully's heart was broken but he just did not want to leave another chance of being a part of a supernatural.

Scully looked down unable to decide what to do.

"She must be stopped." Paige decided to tell the rest of the details herself.

"Ok, let's see she is a vampire. We are to kill her. That doesn't sound that difficult." Piper gulped down another shot of vodka awaiting the bad news she had a gut feeling hadn't been said yet.

"Well you have to understand there is more." Paige said in a low tone.

"I knew it." Piper rejoiced her premonition as she poured another shot.

"She is pregnant." Leo said.

Piper's drink that was only a hairline away from her lips froze at the words. She put the glass down without taking the drink and turned away from them facing the wall.

"You have to understand the vampire's body is dead, unable to conceive. Only way they can conceive is through the mating of Lycans and Vampires that's why their unison was forbidden. The baby born with such unison is born without a soul." Leo tried to offer explanation but the more he spoke the more it seemed like a replay of the days that had taken everything from Piper.

"They killed him so basically in a nutshell the good or bad, every force is scared of my baby and they don't want it to be born." Saleena explained to her friend.

The two old friends had spent the day in the mansion owned by Saleena's tribe and done some catching up about their common neighborhood. After the sun had set and Saleena could get out of the mansion and enjoy the moonlight with her friend, it was then that she had started to tell her about the real reason for her leaving Boston.

"A baby cannot be good or evil." Faith said as she touched her friend's stomach.

"That's why I came here. I knew if no one else, you would understand." Saleena said as she put her own hands on top of the slayers.

"I promise you." Faith said as she looked into the dark eyes that desperately sought her help. "I'll protect you and your baby, with my life if I have to."

"Piper the father is dead. But he was not just a Lycan he was a direct descendant of the first immortal. And his descendant is the baby. I can't even emphasize enough how powerful this baby can be, and not having a soul, what the future of the world might be." Leo decided to speak even though he knew he was just scratching Piper's old wounds.

Piper didn't say a word for the longest time then she finally turned around and looked only at Paige. Paige, her only remaining sister and family to whom she did owe it to make up for what had happened to Phoebe.

"Paige do you want to do this?" Piper asked.

"Yes." Paige answered without hesitation.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Illuminated by the orange light of the sun already hidden behind the horizon, the city that always seemed to be running looked as though it had slowed down. Scully silently sipped her coffee as she watched the yellow cabs lined up in front of the Port Authority, she was so engrossed in the view that when she heard the knock on her door she was startled. She got up with no hurry and walked to answer the door.

"I should have known it was you." Agent Scully said as she opened the door to her partner.

"I hope you have had enough rest so that we can go back to work." Mulder said to his partner who had promised to help but had done very little to do so.

"What am I to do Mulder? We found one picture of Saleena and that too was a photograph of her painting that was painted almost 200 years ago. Now, according to your own research you said even though vampires don't age a day, you said that the faces change dramatically when people are converted to vampires. So, even if that photograph was of Saleena, we won't even recognize her." Scully presented the hopelessness that they faced as though it was good news.

"Yes, that's why I decided to pursue another angle?" Mulder said proudly.

"What angle is that?" Scully asked uninterested.

"Faith." Mulder answered.

"Yes, this is she." Faith said answering her phone.

"Hey, Mr.Anderson, you guys are back?" Faith asked after she heard the voice on the other end.

"That's so good, you know what let me leave now and …" She spoke on the phone but was interrupted before she could finish. She waited for the person on the other end to finish then she finally spoke again, "That sounds good. Just in case I don't answer please call the back up number." Once again she waited for a response. "Thank you Mr.Anderson." Faith said after getting an affirmative answer and hung up the phone.

She picked up her wallet and her keys checked in the mirror one last time before she walked to the door and opened it. Just as she opened the door, a man and a woman were staring at her.

"Let's go." Scully told her partner after reaching their destination.

"No, Scully the reason why I got you here is because I can't go in." Mulder said as he pointed to the neon sign that hung on top of the door that read, 'Haven' in big letters and 'For women only' right underneath it.

"It's a lesbian club." Scully sighed after reading the sign.

"Yes, and according to my sources Faith comes here every Friday night."

"Well, wish me luck." Scully accepted that it was going to be only her, and got out of the car.

"Smile a little Scully, you might even get a date." Mulder teased the red head FBI Agent to which Scully flashed him an artificial smile.

She got out of the club and ran towards the empty alley. Once there she waited, just then the shadow of the dumpster transformed into a young boy and walked towards her.

"Did you find it?" He asked.

"I don't even know what I am looking for to find it." Tara answered with frustration at being left at dark about the mission.

"When you see what you seek, you'll know." The boy replied shedding no light on the mission objective.

"Then I guess I didn't find it." Tara snapped back.

"No, you must look till at least mid night." Tara raised her eyebrows at the authoritive tone the boy used at her. She wanted to set him right, but knowing that elders had emphasized on how important it was for her to listen to him, she decided to keep quite.

"Listen, after mid night, when you come back, if you don't see me you must orb to the key." The boy once again ordered the white lighter.

"Key? What is that Florida Keys?" Tara asked making light of the boy's remark.

"No, just think key." The boy said not even getting the joke.

Tara turned and was walking back when the boy asked in a concerned tone, "Did you have a problem fitting in?"

"No, I am a natural." Tara replied without even turning back.

The door swung wide open and in walked Faith with the man and the woman by her side. With the speed of a bat Saleena was right in front of her old friend before Faith even had a chance to look.

"If you need me, you can call. You don't need to send me your goons." Faith told her friend as she was offended finding no reason for her escorts.

"Believe it or not, it was for their safety not for yours." Saleena offered the slayer the reason.

"Why is there something happening that I don't know about?" Faith asked now worried for her friend.

"Come with me." Saleena said as she led the slayer into a room that was as huge as the lobby was but empty.

"As I told you before, the New York City mansion was for the privileged few of our tribe. But, when we started to loose in Boston the council told us to retreat and come here."

"I know you told me that." Faith stopped her friend with impatience.

"Well the council arrived this morning just before dawn and they went directly to the basement to revive The Prophet."

"The Prophet? Who is that now?" Faith asked.

"He is supposedly who predicted this day and the only one who can help."

"Good, so what is his solution?" Faith asked once again interrupting the sexy vampire.

"We don't know, because he and his bride's coffin were empty." Saleena told the bad news. Saleena continued before Faith could react to it, "The council has gone into hiding, they believe that we are going to be attacked by every possible force. Everyone who is willing to help me is being recruited here." Saleena paused for Faith to make the assessment.

"She is here?" Faith asked finally.

"Yes. I would have kept her as far from you as I could but you have to understand, I need her by my side. She is one of the best fighters I have." Saleena guiltily admitted.

"I undertand." Faith said staring at the floor lost in her thoughts.

"She always asks about you. I think you, you should meet her." Saleena told the slayer hoping to turn the news into a good one.

Faith laughed at the irony as she said, "Where is she now?"

"Right here." The dark haired beauty said as she found an empty table for their drinks.

"Wow, I can't believe a place like this exists." The brunette with her said as she put her drinks and looked at the crowd.

"Come on, you talk as though you were born yesterday. Of course place like this exists." The dark head woman told her friend.

"So, you mean we can just be us here, like be out." The brunette asked once again.

"Yes, sweetheart, we can be completely open here and free." She said as she opened her jacket and put it in the table.

"So, you mean everyone here is like us?" She asked naively.

"No, not necessarily. But I would say 80 of them are. The ones who are not are either wannabees or some come across few of us think its cool to hang around here or some are even here for a dare. Regardless they know it's our own little world inside this club." She said as she took a big sip of her drink and turned to the crowd.

"So, if I want someone, I can just go and…"

"Of course." She didn't let her timid friend finish her question. "Come on the crowd is so good tonight. I see so many fresh faces. Pick one and I'll tell you if they are or not and you can make your move."

"Ok." She said and peered at the dance floor. It took her only couple of minute to spot her sitting at the far corner, not dancing just looking around as though she was searching for someone. "Her." She said pointing.

"Wow, you have good taste, I must say." Her friend praising her choice looking at the direction she was pointing. "And hard to tell I must add. I don't know if she is or not. If not one of us, she is definitely a wannabe."

"Well, if she is not, I don't know Saleena is going to like it if I …"

"Oh! Come on its time to get out of Saleena's apron and be your own woman. Come on now, go and ask her to dance, don't think about Saleena for tonight." She pushed her friend in the dance floor.

"Can I have this dance?"

Scully turned to see the short dark haired woman who had been creeping into her thoughts even with all the bullshit that Mulder had piled up for her.

"Detective! What are you doing here?" Scully asked the detective who had finally summed up enough courage to come and ask her to dance after watching her for almost half an hour.

"Well, I could get myself out of the hot waters by saying; I am undercover working for a case. But I am not going to lie. And I am also not going to ask you what you are doing here, because I know you can't make the same excuse, as the only case you are working on is 'our' case, and that has nothing to do with this place." Olivia blurted out in one breathe to kill the awkwardness of catching the other in a gay club.

"But I …" Scully started to say that she was there because of a case, but stopped herself, as the detective had pointed out the case was 'theirs' and they should have shared their vampire theory with the detectives and told them about the search for Saleena and Faith. But because they had decided not to tell them, Scully kept her mouth shut and quickly rephrased her response. "But, I would be delighted to dance with you Detective."

"Olivia, please." The NYPD officer insisted as she led the FBI Agent to the dance floor.

"This might sound so weird but I think I know you."

"Really." The timid brunette woman asked as she gulped down embarrassed that she was the one who came to make a move on the blonde but now it was the blonde who was giving her a pick up line.

"Oh my God, that sounds like a pick up line, I am so sorry." Tara corrected herself as she felt the stiffness of her companion. "But, I really feel deep down that I know you."

"Well, I don't remember you." She simply replied and gestured for the wait staff. It had been few minutes that she had struck up a conversation with the lady but she hadn't still been able to figure out if Tara was or wasn't. So, she decided to try the trick that her friend had told her about, watch what they order to drink, sometimes the drink they order can out them.

"Let us just order some drink." She said when the waiter reached their table.

"Just water for me." Tara told the waiter.

"I'll have a bloody merry with a twist of lime." The brunette told when the waiter looked at her. Tara looked down as she realized the trick brunette woman was playing. "Are you sure you want to have just water? Especially here?" She tried one more time.

"I know but I am fine with water." Tara replied politely.

_Well, at least she knows what place this is. May be she is a wannabe._ She thought as she waited for her drink and looked at her beautiful companion.

Tara knew that she was not suppose to mingle and was only supposed to watch but she just couldn't point out what but the she felt as though she knew the stranger. Something about her made her stare into her eyes and not care about the danger she was getting herself into.

"You sure can drink." Scully observed as she saw the detective gulp down one more drink. What she didn't know was that ever since Olivia had seen the red headed FBI Agent she had fantasized about her so much that seeing her at the gay club and dancing with her, had just jumped her libido in such high gear that to keep her hands off the red head she had to drown herself in alcohol. As, for Scully she was enjoying the nervousness of the attractive detective so much that she had completely forgotten about Faith and was smiling at every movement or gesture the younger woman made.

"Let's get out of here before you empty the bar." Diana said and offered Olivia her hand to hold. Olivia gladly took her hand and followed her out into the fresh air.

Once outside the drinks that Olivia had gulped down finally hit her and she carelessly let go of the Agent's hand and let herself go round in the parking lot looking up at the clear sky, "My god its beautiful tonight, isn't it Dana?"

"Yes, it certainly is." Scully replied matching her juvenile tone even though she herself was not drunk.

"But, not as beautiful as you." Olivia was now gazing at her instead of the stars.

"Are you flirting with me, Detective?" Scully asked a little flushed at the attention.

"I shouldn't?" Olivia asked a little discouraged.

"So, this friend of yours that you usually met, is she your …" Scully searched for a right word to ask the detective about the woman that Olivia had mentioned she had come to meet in the club but was a no show.

"Girlfriend. No, no. We are just good friends. Sometimes with benefits but nothing romantic." Olivia finished Scully's question and answered it too. "But there is something she taught me." Olivia said as she approached the older woman.

"Yeah, what?" Scully asked curious.

Olivia stood right in front of Dana and looked straight into her eyes, she leaned forward, their lips almost touching each other. Dana moved away a little shy of what was about to happen. Olivia closed her eyes and smiled at her little defeat, "I bet five bucks that I could kiss you without touching any part of your body."

Dana was surprised at Olivia's comeback. She raised her eyebrow not believing the detective. Olivia took out her wallet and a five buck bill and raised it to show that she was serious.

"Ok Detective, kiss me without touching me." Scully accepted the challenge and stood still.

Olivia approached the Agent once again. She leaned slowly and paused so close that both the women could feel the other's breath. Scully didn't move half in anticipation and half taking in the moment. Dana closed her eyes unable to wait; just then Olivia closed the gap and united their lips. This time Dana let go of the shyness she had felt before and grabbed the Detective making sure that their union lasted to her satisfaction and kissed the younger woman as hungrily as Olivia's lips demanded. Within seconds Dana was backed up against the parked car and their tongues were doing the mingling and their bodies were getting more and more squeezed against each other. Olivia dragged her hand from her torso to her bare neck and held her head in place so that she could be the one who could do the kissing as the older woman got a little taste of the servicing her tongue was aching to do for the other soaked spot. Dana on the other hand was totally focused on the pressure the younger woman's leg was providing on her core and rocked the lower part of her body back and forth allowing for maximum friction but was getting frustrated with the obstruction of their clothing. She skillfully slipped out the detective's tucked in shirt and sneaked her hands inside to touch her bare skin which made the city beauty to pause for a moment. Scully traced her hand further up from her stomach to her bra and cupped her breast. Olivia who had led till then gave up and rested her head on the shoulder of the red head. Not being able to resist the bare neck by her lips, Scully took out her tongue and suckled on it. Just then Scully buckled and pushed the detective a little, "Stop."

"Not here." Tara said as she broke their kiss.

"I know." The brunette replied catching her breath as she let her head rest on Tara's shoulder.

"Come with me." Tara told the woman as she took her hand and led her out of the little passageway, into the crowd then to the stairs. The brunette wondered where they were going but decided not to ask as her mind still re played what had just happened.

They were dancing at first but the closer their bodies got the more she couldn't shake away the attraction, then she finally gave in and kissed her with the passion that was building in her, to her surprise her lips were greeted by the mouth that was more than willing to return it. As soon as their lips touched she closed her eyes to only concentrate on their wetness being exchanged, when she opened them she found them in a dark empty place but she could still hear the music so she knew she was still in the club. Even though she was enticed by Tara, she refused to close her eyes again, as she still tried to figure how they reached there.

Tara stopped right in front of the door and opened it so that the brunette approved of the room that bared nothing but a bed. When Tara had first hung out in the club, the bartender had told her about rooms that were available on the top floor for quickies she had explained to her with a wink. Tara had decided to get a key to one of the rooms, just in case she got stuck, she thought she could use the room to safely orb in and out. She had hardly thought she would be using it for what it was meant for.

The brunette hesitated for a second as she thought about what Saleena would say. She quickly closed her eyes, shook Saleena's face off her mind and walked in, letting Tara follow and close the door.

"So, you did touch me." Scully said as she drove her car out of the parking lot with the detective in the passenger seat.

"Yeah, damn I lost." Olivia said grinning at her ploy.

"Now, it's not admirable for a law enforcement officer to loose." Scully said with an equal grin on her face.

"Well, may be you can teach me to win."

"I certainly will, in my room." Scully put the car on park and signaled the younger woman to get out the car.

"Well, I don't know but it feels like I am winning." Detective Benson said pulling the Agent for a quick kiss before the two officers of Law ran like little girls quickening their ascent to the room.

Tara's top was being unbuttoned before they even reached the edge of the bed. The skirt followed immediately after. The brunette's mouth was all over her, licking and sucking as her body quivered as a response to every wet trace on her burning flesh. The entire strength of her body concentrated on her fingers as its nails dug into the woman's back as her nipple perched inside her mouth as her tongue flapped on one and the other one was vibrated equally but by her thumb.  
  
Realizing that her new found companion was still clothed, Tara decided to take a little control, and pushed her. She sat on the bed and shifted towards its center without taking her eyes off the stranger who was hungrily watching her too. As soon as she stopped, the clothed beauty tried to crawl towards her but Tara pushed her back with her foot and made her stand right in front of her. "Clothes need to go." Tara said as she waited for the brunette to strip.  
  
She stared right into the naked blonde's eyes as she slowly took of her black tank top. Tara's eyes hungrily followed her hand that traced her own breast then took a moment to pinch her own nipple a little, then made its way lower to the belt that she quickly unbuttoned and unzipped. Tara was on her knees now, not being able to wait and the brunette jumped in the bed with her pants still on. Tara's hands were on her immediately, touching the exposed skin, caressing her breasts gently and sucking on the hardening nipples. The brunette moaned as she let Tara feast on her half naked body.  
  
Tara's hand quickly found the half the undone pant and tugged on it. Sensing the impatience of the blonde, she got up and let her slide the pants, she was about to return to her former position when Tara stopped her. Standing stark naked she looked down at blue eyes of the blonde hungrily eyeing her soaked core. She moved a little so that the blonde's head was right between her legs, then she descended in the same motion as Tara slowly lied on her back making sure that the sex landed on her mouth.

It hadn't taken more than couple of moments for them to get naked once they had reached Scully's magnificent government provided room in Howard Johnson's on 42nd street just overlooking the world famous Time Square.

Their hands and their tongues were all over each other as the sheet of the bed crumbled out of its grooves as their bodies danced in pure lust. Olivia finally took hold of the red head's impatient hands and put it top of her head so that she could feast her eyes with her nakedness with no interruption. Dana followed the eyes of the NYPD detective that took time staring at her lips, then her awaiting breasts, then lower to her stomach then to her soaked and ready pussy. Scully parted her legs as her eyes lingered at her wetness.

"Its time for me to win." Olivia said and winked at the FBI Agent as she slid her one finger inside her. Dana arched at its entrance; then slid the second finger and then the third as her thumb found the swollen center to press hard at. Scully had closed her eyes and sex was all she was feeling when Olivia abruptly took out her fingers. Scully opened her eyes in confusion, just to see her suck her fingers tasting her wetness. Then detective Benson settled herself on her stomach between her thighs and ran the tip of her tongue just outside her core, as Scully gasp in pleasure. Then, foregoing any more foreplay, she dove right in and began licking the clit as she slid her two fingers inside. She wrapped her arms around Dana's thighs, holding her down easing her feast.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

"Hey!" Paige screamed, "Hello!"

"Hey Mr.Keeper of the Satya, come on out." Piper screamed right after but the alley stood still.

"May be he is not here. Leo did say he would be gone after mid night." Paige said giving up.

"Only if we were not attacked by that stupid three headed demon, whatever he is called." Piper said frustrated at missing their target.

"You two are witches?" The boy asked as he came out of the shadows. Once the boy had heard the sisters use the term vanquish he assumed they were witches and found it safe to come out.

"Wow, you sure are young to be keeping draggers not to mention the Satya dragger." Piper exclaimed when she saw the boy.

"Why do you seek the dragger?" He asked ignoring Piper's outburst.

"For the very same reason it is meant for." Paige replied cleverly being vague as Leo had warned them that even though the good and the bad sought the same thing at that moment it didn't mean that they were on the same side.

"You are not the witch who shall have it, so leave." The boy put it simply and turned around to once again disappear in the shadows.

"Not so fast, Mr. Rude." Piper stopped the boy in his tracks.

"You have no place here, leave." The boy commanded the sisters.

"Or what?" Piper challenged.

Paige stared at her sister wondering what she was up to, just then she saw a fireball form right on top of the boy's right hand.

"Piper back off." Paige tried to warn her sister but Piper had already stepped forward glaring at the boy, daring him. The boy who simply didn't care who they were fired the fireball without a second thought. Paige who even though was shocked by what was happening was quick enough to call for the fireball and throw it right back at the boy. Before the two sisters could even react to what had happened, the boy burnt in flame leaving behind a peculiar dragger.

"So much for killing me." Piper said as she calmly walked to where the boy had stood just moments ago and picked up the dragger, "This must be the Satya dragger."

"Piper we just killed a boy." Paige was staring at her hands unable to believe what she had just done to save her sister.

"No, we vanquished a demon. Fireball an upper level demon power, he was a demon. So, we did nothing wrong." Piper said as matter of fact as she felt.

"Leo said we needed him. And why are you being so uncaring?" Paige asked her sister who just hadn't seemed the same since they had re united.

"Look, the problem with us is that we think we need everyone. As a matter of fact we don't. Now, we should stop trying to take care of every little detail, it screws up everything; and just go for the goal." Piper told.

"You were not like this." Paige made her observation aloud.

"I know. I cared about making everyone happy; I have lost two sisters trying to take care of details. Making sure magic is not exposed, making sure the generation of slayers doesn't get evil. Now, I am not about to loose another sister caring about details. Let's just go and find Saleena." Piper said as she tucked the dragger in her pants.

"I don't even know where to look." Paige said.

"May be we could start there." Piper said to her sister pointing to the Neon Light that read 'V-Dome MEMBERS ONLY'.

. 

"V-Dome", Saleena repeated not believing what she had just heard. "You took her to the V-Dome."

Early in the 20th century when once empty streets at nights were getting more and more crowded with party and club goers, many vampires had started to join them into the clubs. Once the vampires started to get intoxicated and attacking in public, the elder vampires decided to open exclusive clubs just for the vampires called V-Dome in every major cities. At first V-Domes became a heaven for vampires, they loved the music the lights and the very fact that they had a place for themselves where they could be totally out. But very soon the younker vampires (the ones who was just turned and hadn't made a kill yet) started to lure innocent unsuspecting human into the dome and made it a place to officiate themselves by making a kill or some vampires lured them to turn them into a vampire. Sometimes even humans started to hang around V-Domes hoping to get turned. For many older vampires sex had become an easy and meaningless pleasure so for them the major thrill was to suck another vampire's blood and with that exchanging the memory of everything that the other had done, they called it a B-melt and V-Dome had became a popular destination for them to seek a melt partner. The elders didn't approve of b-melt so it was condoned and most of the V-Domes were closed but some remained open like the one in NYC.

Saleena wasn't as scared for her to go to V-Dome for a melt but she was scared that she would pick up some wannabe and she would make a kill. She picked up Jena, the dark haired beauty by her throat with no effort at all and her fangs came out as her forehead wrinkled revealing her vampire-ness as she hissed, "If she made a kill, I will personally burn your skin with sunlight, part by part for years before I let it hit your heart to ash."

She threw the smaller women through the wall and ordered, "Get her… NOW."

Their hands were held together as they both walked in silence. There were no words to be said or thoughts to be exchanged. For the longest moment her mind was just blank as his, but she knew one of them had to speak.

"Leo, look." She initiated and the white-lighter stopped. He had started to walk with her instead of directly orbing her hoping that the stalling of the time would help him find the right words but even after two blocks of walking he was as lost for words as he had been when they had got out of her place.

"You don't have to feel bad." She said as she tried to find the right way to say, actually say anything but just then Leo looked up, held the gaze for a second or two and looked down. She knew what he was going to say. "Elders are calling you." She said it for him. "Yes." He said a little relieved that he could avoid the hot waters for the next time. Before she said anything he orbed her right where they were walking to.

They both looked at the grim gray building knowing what was inside. "I can't orb you inside, they have a lot of securities, and he is being watched."

"That's ok; I'll find a way to get him out." She said and let go of the white-lighter's hand.

Leo grabbed her arm to say something but he looked up again instead.

"It must really be important, go." She said knowing that elder's had called him again.

"Be careful." He said and orbed.

Dawn stared into the transparent air that replaced the white-lighter and turned around to look at the building reading 'New York City Police Department'.

The sun was bright and the day was beautiful and most of all she was as happy. She looked up at the sun and grinned, hopped and whistled as she merrily walked inside the apartment that she had grown familiar within a short period of time. She looked around and was surprised to find it empty, but she didn't make much of it as she jogged up the stairs and opened the door. She stopped in her tracks and her eyes widened at the scene in front of her.

Tara was sitting on the edge of the bed fully clothed but only waist above. Her pants were on the floor next to her. Her head was thrown back and her eyes closed with her mouth gritted together. Below on her knees was a red haired woman with her head in between her parted legs.

She tried to close her eyes but the image did not go away. She felt as though her lungs were filling with water and she couldn't breathe. Her whole body numbed with pain from her heart. She shook and jerked to make that image go away. She tried to close her eyes once again but the harder she tried the clearer Tara's face gritted in pleasure got. Then she realized what she was doing wrong. This time she opened her eyes and it was gone. She was now staring at the dark ceiling above and right next to it was Tara, who was looking at her in concern.

"Are you all right?" Tara asked who had woken up with her shaking in her sleep. "You must have seen a nightmare."

"Yeah, a nightmare." She repeated confused by what she had just dreamt. She stared at the blond beauty she had met just few hours ago in the Dome and tried to understand why she was in her dream She heard about vampires who shared memories at b-melt but she didn't know if that was just possible with sex, as she had not sucked her blood yet. She placed her hand on her own neck to see if she had been sucked when she was sleeping but there were no puncture wound there.

Tara was more concerned for her companion than confused so she wrapped her in a hug to comfort her. She hugged Tara back for a moment, then she shook her head a little and her face replaced with the one of a vampire. She opened her mouth revealing her fangs, she hissed as her long nails that had just protruded out made a little cut in Tara's neck. Tara suddenly pushed her and pulled the covers hiding her skin from the woman who had now changed into a vampire. She changed back as quickly and said, "I thought you wanted b-melt."

"No, I am not a vampire." Tara answered.

"Oh! So, you are a wannabe." She said and paused for a moment to think. "I could turn you." She said once again.

"No, I don't want to." Tara answered and looked away trying to come up with a good reason why she was in a V-Dome if she wasn't a vampire or if she didn't want to be one.

Just then the door flew open and several dark coated men and women armed with guns rushed in aiming at the two women.

The guy stopped to take a breath but looked both ways to make sure he wasn't followed. Once he saw nobody behind him, he took a moment and knelt on the floor to rest. He was blind and out of breath for a second, when he came to, he was staring at a black pair of shoes. Slowly he looked up to see a dark coated man staring down at him with a gun pointed at him. He got up slowly not taking his eyes off the man. "Priest" He heard a woman's voice calling from his side and within a 100th of a nano second his hand grabbed the stake thrown at him and he landed that inside his attacker's heart. The man's gun was still pointed at him when he fell to the ground. Faith walked towards the shocked guy who was still staring at the body below him. When he felt Faith right next to him, he dared to speak out, "He is not a vampire or a demon."

Faith too was staring at the blood that was running from dead body below them in disbelief.

"Swear Priest when I threw you a stake, I thought he was one of the demons." Faith confessed as her mind flashed back to the night of slaying when, she had accidentally staked a man thinking he was a vampire. Everything had gone downhill after that day.

She knelt down to see what she could find about the man. She searched the body to find army tags on his neck.

"Army." Priest whispered for both of them to hear. "But why was he after me."

"Humans know more than you think." Faith said getting up and taking the magazine out of the gun that the Army guy was pointing at the Priest. The magazine was made of harnessed sunlight in a bullet, just like the ones Lycans had used in Boston to kill vampires.

"If humans are involved it's not good." Priest said staring at the magazine.

"Yep. It's getting better by the minute. Let's go make sure any of these goons haven't got to Saleena." Faith said staring at the night sky.

"Scully." Dana said into the phone as Olivia tried to position it comfortably on her ears. Since Olivia was the one on the side of the phone, she had volunteered to pick it up and put it on Scully's ears, who was still nuzzled comfortably on her chest.

"Yes, Mulder I was sleeping." Scully replied annoyed that her partner never looked at the watch when he dialed his number.

"Oh Faith!" Scully put her hands on her head as she suddenly remembered the reason she was at the club. "I completely for…" Dana had just started to admit her forgetfulness when she changed her mind, deciding it was wiser not to admit it. She took the phone from Olivia's hand and sat on the bed as she spoke, "I didn't see her. I am sorry I meant to call you, but…"

She waited for Mulder to speak as Olivia playfully traced her bare back with her finger. Scully was feeling its path on her skin even while she heard Mulder get excited about the reason he called her. "No, Mulder I am not coming there. Do you even realize what time it is?" Scully replied rudely as she concentrated on the feel on her back. "Who is there to see him?" Scully asked now 100 focused on the phone. "What?" Scully reacted to the name for a moment and answered, "I am coming."

She turned around to put the phone to see Olivia already up and getting dressed.

"I'll call Elliot and tell him to meet us down at the station." Olivia said when she saw that Scully was done with the phone.

"Elliot why?" Scully asked confused.

"Didn't Agent Mulder just say that our guy got a visitor?" Olivia asked equally confused at Scully's question.

It took Scully a moment to come back to reality and realize that she was naked in bed with the detective whose case they were working on.

"Oh! Yes." Scully got out of the bed herself and started to gather her clothing. "But you all don't have to come. Mulder and I can handle this." She said casually as she put on her pants.

"Are you telling me the Feds is taking over my case?" Olivia had stopped and was looking at the FBI Agent for an answer.

"Look, you did call us…" Scully always hated taking over cases from the local departments and this time it was going to be worse as she stared at the sexy detective.

"No, no no. I didn't call the Fed to take over my case, I called to get some case files, and Agent Mulder just showed up bulldozing here. This is still a New York City case, Fed has no jurisdiction." Olivia said possessively unwilling to let go of her case.

"Let's not talk jurisdiction here. I mean the woman found with him was not sexually assaulted so it shouldn't even be an SVU case. And we have found that he might have been from Boston. Crossing state lines makes it Federal." Scully recited the awful jurisdiction facts once again except this time she wished she didn't have to say it. Olivia didn't say a word and just stared at the floor unable to shallow that she had just lost her case.

"Look, I'll let you know what happens." Scully said as she put on her coat.

"Was it Faith Spencer you were looking for at the club?" Olivia asked realizing that Scully was working on a case last night.

"You know Faith?" Dana asked now still on her tracks.

"Yes." Olivia simply said as she buckled her belt and walked right up to Scully who was not intently looking at her.

"How well do you know Faith?"

"More than you think." Olivia answered returning Scully gaze with a little smile as she knew she got her in on the case once again.

"Let's go." Scully said and opened the door knowing that if she pried more about Faith, Olivia wouldn't answer anyway.

Piper stepped on the frozen hand of the vampire as he screamed in pain.

"Now, what did we want to know?" Piper asked as she looked at her sister who was watching Piper torture the vampire they had managed to lure out of the V-Dome.

"Where is Saleena?" Paige asked.

Piper walked towards the other limb and raised her leg to shatter it into pieces too when the vampire begged "I'll tell you. Don't please."

Both the sisters came together and stood side by side waiting for the vampire to reveal.

"In times of attack, the safest place for vampires is the Underworld."

Saleena was staring at the moon which was almost at an eye level.

"It's going to be morning soon." Faith said from behind. "If the army is here, they know about this place. It's not right to kill human for our reasons. We have to get out of here."

Saleena stood in silence for as long as she could. Then she turned around to reveal tears in her eyes to her best friend. Faith walked right up and hugged her friend unable to take her worries away. "Let's go to my place. I don't think they'll even guess in million years that a vampire will be with the slayer." Faith offered the only solution she knew.

"No. You go back." Saleena said breaking away from the hug. "I'll go to Underworld. There are still vampires and Lycans there who support me. I didn't want to have my baby down there but I guess that is where it has to be."

"I am not letting you go. I'll come with you." Faith said in a voice that Saleena couldn't refuse.

Next Chapter

Can You Count on Love?

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	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

"Please tell me you didn't make a kill." Jena asked her friend dreading the consequence Saleena had threatened her with.

"No, definitely not." She replied as she walked aligned with her escorts in dark attire who had broken into the room where she was with Tara. Seeing her associates she had quickly said goodbye and left even though the blond still hovered in her thoughts.

"Good, so that must have been a good melt you had. She was hot." Jena asked wanting to know the detail.

"She wasn't a vampire." She said and almost felt her friend's eyes widening and asked without even stopping. "What?"

Before Jena could put a voice to what they both knew would be the next question the phone in Jena's pocket rang. She got it out and saw who it was and gave it to her friend.

She took the phone and looked at the caller id.

'Riley' The caller id of the phone read, as Mulder took it out of his pocket to see who had called him at that hour. He quickly flipped the phone open and answered it and waited for Riley to finish on the other end then got up and walked to where his partner was sitting.

"Scully, I need to go." He said in her ears.

By now Scully was used to Mulder leaving at the critical moments for her to tie up all the loose ends, so she didn't even bother to ask why or where he was leaving, rather she simply nodded and kept her sight transfixed on the man whom she now knew to be some kind of a Prophet.

Dawn on the other hand was taking turns to look at the pale man whom Leo had told her to contact and the FBI Agent who once had become almost a part of her family. Somehow she felt she owed the Agent an explanation even though it was Buffy who had left her. The last person she had thought she would see when she had walked into the precinct was Mulder, but when she saw that Prophet was in Mulder's custody she just waited for Scully to arrive.

When Scully had walked into the basement with Olivia in tow, Mulder had quickly gotten up when he saw the detective but Scully shut him down immediately by telling him that Olivia knew Faith. Of course that revelation made Dawn's eyebrow rise a little but she didn't say anything

After Mulder left the room got smaller every passing silent moment especially for Olivia who still felt completely in dark even though she heard Dawn explain that the man was some kind of a prophet who was going to lead them to save the world, in more or less those very words. What baffled Olivia more was why Dr. Dana Scully, a woman of science actually listening or even believing such an explanation and what Faith had to do with any of it? Olivia was just about to voice out her confusion when Dawn spoke instead.

"So, Faith is also here?" She asked to no one is particular.

"Yeah, that's what we found out." Scully answered even though she didn't look at Dawn.

"Does she know what is happening?" Dawn asked again.

"I don't know." Scully answered once again, but this time she took her eyes off the man and asked, "Why isn't he saying anything?"

"I don't know." Dawn said and once again turned to the man and spoke, "I am the key Prophet. I seek your guidance."

This time Olivia couldn't keep her laughter hidden as the scene in front of her was just simply funny to her. But, to her surprise both the women looked at her as though she was the odd pea in the pod.

"Come on now, this is ridiculous, Prophet and key and whole saving the world thing." Olivia finally said her thoughts aloud.

As soon as Scully heard those words, the pieces started to fit in Scully's head. "Faith is the friend with benefits that was a no-show at the club last night, and when you said you knew Faith, more than I could think, you meant you knew her…" Scully paused surprised that the thought of Faith and Olivia together made her feel uncomfortable and even a little possessive towards the Detective with whom even though she felt a definite attraction, she wasn't sure how she felt about. "You knew her intimately." Scully finished.

"Yeah." Olivia answered feeling guilty even though she shouldn't have after all she was with Faith before she even met or thought about the Agent.

"Well, long story short, to find a vampire who better to look for than Faith as Faith is the slayer." Scully told the detective knowing fully that the words she had used would have to be explained in full to her but later.

"Vampires, slayers, what is this some kind of a game or a joke?" Olivia now asked unable to believe it was Dana who was saying it.

Before Dawn or Scully could try and explain anything to the Detective, her eyes widened as wide as her mouth which had opened simultaneously. Both the women turned to see what had caused her reaction and saw Tara standing behind them.

"Where in the name of god did you come from?" Olivia exclaimed as soon as she got her voice back.

Tara looked at the strange woman wondering why she was there when she orbed to the key. Then her eyes landed on Dawn and she knew.

"You are the key." Tara was staring at the little girl who had now become a woman, whom she hadn't seen since the day they buried Buffy.

"God I wanted to see you but not like this." She said as she ran to the blond woman and hugged her.

"Hi Dana." She said once she unwrapped herself from Dawn's arms.

"Hi Tara." Scully simply greeted her back.

Olivia's mouth was still open as the women greeted each other as though a woman appearing from a thin air was just a natural thing to happen. And just then Prophet got up shocking everyone and looked at Tara as he asked, "Did you find it?"

Tara was taken back a little hearing the man ask her the same vague question that the boy kept asking her and sending her to different places to look for, but by now she had grown tired of asking what it was she was supposed to find and simply answered, "No."

"When you see what you seek, you'll know." He answered in the same exact words as the boy.

"We got to go." He simply said and took her hand. "Take the key." He commanded as though Dawn was actually some kind of an inanimate object. Before the women in the room could react to the just awoken man, the three women disappeared leaving Olivia once again open mouthed, and Scully just sighed as this wasn't the first time she was left behind. Well at least this time she wasn't alone but she had a lot of explaining to do.

"This place seems to be infested with these things." Paige complained as she orbed a rock to hit another werewolf.

"Yeah, the vampire did say that this was their world, you know of vampires and werewolves." Piper screamed back at her sister hoping Paige heard against all the blowing of the lesser powerful vampires and werewolves.

"I told you, we should have talked to Leo before we jumped in here." Paige screamed back .

"Oh don't be a baby. What is the worst that we could happen?" Piper downplayed Paige's concern.

"We could die." Paige said as she orbed few big rocks to barricade herself against the two attacking vampires. Then she orbed the fallen stake into their hearts one by one. "And I don't want to die so soon." She said as she poofed another vampire.

"Dying is not as easy as you think." Piper said almost to herself as she staked two of the frozen vampires at the same time.

One by one the two sisters seemed to have truly killed almost hundreds of vampires and werewolves as they stood in the middle of heaps of ashes and lifeless bodies. They looked at one another not even daring to wonder if that was the last of them.

"Did we finish them all?" Paige asked even though knew she couldn't possibly even hope for that. Just then the ground they were standing on started to shake and low sound of thousands of footsteps coming towards them grew louder. The sisters panicked and ran towards the closest tunnel, as fast as they could just to end up at dead end corner. Piper looked at her sister unable to come up with a solution, but Paige was already at work orbing as many big rocks as she could barricade themselves from their attackers.

"Wow that was scary." Paige said as she took moment to take a breath.

Piper agreed with a nod and leaned on the wall to take a rest when the ground gave away, making them take a fall.

After taking a minute or two to recover from the fall, they helped each other get up and looked at where they had landed. It seemed like they were at what seemed like a huge empty center of a various intersection.

"How come this place is lit? Where is the light coming from?" Paige wondered once she made sure neither she nor Piper was hurt.

"I don't know, but how the hell are we going to find Saleena now?" Piper wondered about a more important question according to her.

"Looking for me?" An awfully attractive dark haired, slim woman dressed completely in black with a long black rain coat said from the top of pile of rocks that was as high as the ceiling from which the sisters had fallen. As the Halliwell women watched her in awe, a part because of her captivating beauty (who wouldn't be), a part because of the realization that they had actually found her; Saleena jumped from that height and landed firmly on the ground. Piper instinctively tried to freeze her but all that did to Saleena was, pause her pace for a fraction of a second.

"Ahh, a witch with fancy powers." Saleena grinned unaffected as she approached the witches.

Paige looked for something to save them. When she saw that Saleena was approaching another pile of rocks. She called for a stone that she figured and prayed was the one without which the entire pile would topple. Thankfully she was right, as the stone appeared in her hand the rocks came down hard on the vampire crushing her between rocks that even with her strength she couldn't move and was stuck. Piper saw that the tables had turned and quickly took out the dragger which was now glowing because it was near its target.

"Go ahead." Paige allowed her sister to go forward.

Piper approached the woman who was helplessly stuck with the dragger in her hand. Saleena just stared right into her with no sign of fear as Piper neared the point of the dragger to her throat. There was only a distance of couple of centimeter between the beautiful throat and visible food pipe inside her skin and the point of the glowing weapon when a familiar female voice shouted from behind,

"Touch her, and I'll split your head in two."

Piper was startled by the voice she just heard, she turned right around and her heart stopped. Everything in the universe came to a complete halt as she stared into the eyes of Faith.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

"Ok, wait let me get this right. The child born of a vampire and a werewolf is supposed to be the end of the world. Now why is that?" Olivia asked handing Dana a glass wine and getting back to her beer.

"Well, according to the text, the baby will have no soul. Now, I guess for a living being to exist without a soul, I guess that in itself is the end of the world as we know of it." Scully answered.

"Wow, and I thought the monsters I came across in my job were the ones indicating the end of the world." Olivia gulped her beer.

"I know it's hard to believe what I am saying, but you just saw Tara disappear with Dawn and Prophet, now explain that with science. Believe me I have tried." Scully remembered the time when Buffy had finally come clean with her, and she had just stared at the blonde slayer wondering what was so wrong in her head to make up such outrageous stories. But, it hadn't been long after that she realized that they were not stories but the life that Buffy led.

"I can't explain that's the reason why I am not questioning what you are telling me, but that doesn't mean I believe it, yet." It was best way Olivia could sum up how she felt about what she had just heard. "So, now you tell me the government knows of the existence of all these crea..." Creatures, was the word in Olivia's lips but she paused realizing even Faith was among them and reworded, "people."

"Yes, they have a special branch that specializes in eliminating evil forces, supernatural evil forces and cover the tracks of their existence. And they are already in the trails of Saleena. Major Riley used to work very close with Buffy, he is the one who is in charge of this operation, that is what Mulder told me over the phone." Scully said recalling her conversation with her partner on their drive to Olivia's place.

"And what does army wants to do?" Olivia asked trying to understand.

"Mulder said they wanted to stop the baby from being born." Scully answered.

"Isn't that a little cruel, regardless of soul no soul, that is an unborn innocent baby?" Olivia couldn't stop being a human just because the situation consisted of non-humans.

"I know, but she is vampire. She is already dead." Scully reasoned.

"But, the baby is not. I am sorry, I don't think its right, and I truly don't believe that Faith would ever kill a baby, leave alone a pregnant person whether that is a vampire or what not." Olivia crushed the beer as she spoke getting agitated that there were apparently greater or higher forces out to get an unborn baby.

"You do seem to know Faith." Scully voiced her observation with a little anger and jealousy towards the woman who had once already taken away someone she was falling in love with.

"We are good friends." Olivia replied.

"With good benefits." Scully snapped back to the surprise of both women. "I should go." Scully said a moment later.

"No, you should not." Olivia said as she walked up the FBI Agent.

"When I met her, we were both victims of circumstance and we just found shelter in our frustrations. Later we just used each other to take some steam off, but it never was or is more than that." Olivia explained in her defense as she soothed Dana's face. Dana looked into the detective's eyes wanting to believe her.

"Are you still in love with …" Scully stopped realizing that she didn't know the name of the person Olivia was in love with.

"Alex." Olivia filled in. "Alexandra Cabot. But, it's been a while and I know she is never coming back." Olivia looked away to hide the little film of tears that had formed in her eyes.

"So, that's the story of my broken heart." Olivia said with a come back smile. "Tell me Agent Scully, has your heart ever been broken?"

Scully smiled realizing the pain Olivia might be feeling. She put down the wine and held the beautiful detective's face with both her hands and gave a long and sensual kiss camouflaging both their scarred heart.

"You've got to be kidding me." Faith uttered as the face of the woman holding the dragger turned and her mind flashed back to the night Buffy had called her worried about Kelly.

"Just get her from Piper, will you?" She had screamed at her.

Even though Faith didn't see any reason to panic she thought it to be perfect reason to leave patrol early and give Piper a little surprise. That was also the reason why instead of walking through the front door and passing by the other sisters' rooms, she decided to climb to the attic, as she usually did when she wanted to sneak into Piper's room. But to her shock, the scene that awaited her that night was exactly the same as it was in front of her now, that of Piper with a dragger in the verge of killing innocence.

"Don't think I won't." Faith re confirmed her warning as she firmed her grip on the crossbow keeping a steady aim at Piper who even though had moved the dragger hadn't still dropped it.

"I am sure you would." It was Paige who voiced out her suppressed anger. "It certainly wouldn't be the first time you killed one of us."

Faith could see Paige with the corner of her eyes but she didn't take her eyes of the oldest Halliwell who was standing, still staring at the slayer in disbelief.

"Piper, go for the goal." Paige reminded her sister daring the slayer's heart, and at the same time whispering, "Crossbow" under her breath. To her surprise it didn't appear in her hands. "Crossbow" She said it louder and spread her hands in front of her, but it was too late. Hearing Paige's provocation Piper had turned the dragger to its former path and undoubtedly an arrow had escaped Faith's crossbow.

"Arrow" Paige screamed but as before it was in vain as it pierced through Piper's palm dropping the dragger and landing on Saleena's throat, attaching her hand to the Vampire's neck. Shocked Paige immediately orbed to her sister's aid and tried to orb them out. But every time she felt herself dissolve, Piper remained intact, making her stop. She turned quickly to see the distance left between the slayer and them, then she tried to call for the arrow again to which Saleena laughed, "Your powers are vain to our weapons." As soon as the panicked Halliwell heard this she turned again to see where Faith was. Just as her head turned it was met with a powerful blow from the slayer's back hand, sliding her at least five feet away and rendering her unconscious.

"Damn you." Saleena cursed at her friend for her pain.

Faith just smirked and pulled Saleena's head a little to break the arrowhead that had pierced right through. The pain of the arrow moving made Piper grab Faith's shoulder in support. Faith closed her eyes at contact and tried to fight off her attention that was going only to the feel of her hand on her back. Once the arrowhead was broken, she looked up at Piper for a second, took a deep breath dreading what she had to do. She held Piper's wrist firmly being fully aware of her skin on hers, then she firmed her grip on the tail of the arrow and said looking at her friend, "It's going to sting a little."

"No, kidding." Saleena answered awaiting the pain while Piper cringed gripping harder at Faith's shoulder. With a quick pull the arrow was out but Piper screamed with pain as Faith pressed the hole on her palm with both hand preventing it from bleeding more.

"It's gonna be okay." Faith consoled as he put more pressure and looked around for something to use for a bandage. Not finding anything around except rocks (duh), she took a second, to tear off the lower portion of her blouse, exposing her stomach, and quickly wrapped it around the witch's palm. Piper watched without saying a word as she for a moment forget everything that had ever happened and just concentrated on the hands that were lovingly caring for her. Once the bandage was done Faith held on to her hand and looked up to Piper's awaiting eyes that made her forget everything. For a moment they were back, back in time and place when their love wasn't impossible. For a moment every one and everything disappeared as their eyes found the same undying adoration reflecting back at each other. Their mind and their sight only featured the other as their lips automatically attempted to cover the last remaining distance between them. But before the evitable could ensue,

"I might be a vampire but I am bleeding too." Saleena spoke bringing the two women back to reality.

Faith looked up, shaking her head a little and cursing herself for losing reality for a moment, just at that moment she was floating in the air along with Piper and unconscious Paige.

She looked down to see a man striding fast from the far end with two women in tow, who seemed to be invisibly chained and floating just as she was.

"Prophet" Saleena cried recognizing the man.

"You sure are a hard bat to find." Prophet said as he removed the rocks with a swirl of his hand and raised Saleena out.

"Yeah, got trapped." Saleena said almost as an excuse.

Prophet approached the vampire and examined the bleeding neck with lust. Before Faith even comprehended what he was doing, he took a bite on her neck and sucked her as her body quivered.

"No!" Faith screamed and tried to break her hold but it was futile.

Tara and Dawn who had now floated in sight, were as shocked to see the sisters with Faith as they were to see the Prophet suck the vampire.

After he was done, he let go, as Saleena dropped to the floor like a hard rock, as he looked up, spread his arms and growled like an animal does after a satisfying its appetite.

Hearing his growl about ten Lycans and vampires came out of the tunnels.

"Chain them." He ordered as the floating women were brought down to the ground and immediately made captive by his army.

"Not this one." He said pointing to Faith. "Slayer is with us." He added as Saleena's thoughts and memories started to flow through his brain cells. The vampires unchained the slayer and she ran to her friend who was now gaining more strength.

"What the fuck did he do to you?" Faith asked helping her up.

"It's called a melt, shortcut version of awakening." Saleena explained leaning her full weight on her friend.

"And I thank you for looking after Saleen." Prophet said to Faith as he directed his army to move forward and asked "You have any idea what the core awaits?"

"I had sent Priest we found his ashes just before we entered the underworld." Saleena answered even though she knew that Prophet already knew whatever she knew, and then she realized that the question wasn't meant for her.

That's when Faith spoke, "I called up Chance and hopefully…"

"Chance…" Prophet said aloud as he closed his eyes to ransack through Saleena's memory to find out who Chance was.

"Let's move then." He said after few seconds and marched forward.

Faith took a second to look back and when he saw that Tara was chained right next to Piper and she was already healing the witch, she turned in front and carried her friend and marched forward.

"Thanks." Piper said to Tara as she felt the pain dissipate in her hand. Tara didn't reply as she slowly opened the torn cloth to reveal a clear skin. She was about to throw it when Piper stopped her and kept it in her pocket.

"You never know." She explained and then pulled her still unconscious sister for the white-lighter's aid. Tara hesitated as she put her hands over the youngest Halliwell but the light in her hand did not glow. She looked up apologetically at the eldest witch. Piper closed eyes as she knew the reason why the white lighter failed sort of love for her younger sister.

"Paige told me about the day, she lashed out on you for trying to turn Phoebe gay." Piper said as she put her hands over the shaking white-lighter's.

"I know I shouldn't get my personal feelings involved, but…" Tara found herself sobbing without control for the first time since Phoebe had refused to talk to her.

"Look Tara you got to understand, whatever Paige said to you was only about how she felt at that time. You got to understand finding a member of your family to be gay is a big deal, I mean people have like a whole scenario thought out when they come out to their family, but we automatically assumed that Paige could accept our orientation without any problem as we were witches. But, it just wasn't easy for her. She not only had to come to terms that two of her sisters might be gay but also the fact that she wasn't. Somehow she felt like she was not a part of the family. And because you were there, she just took it out on you." Piper explained her sisters out-lash to the white-lighter who clearly hadn't still forgotten. "And she is really sorry about that day. She never thought you would break up with Phoebe for that." Piper added.

"I never broke up with Phoebe, when I went to see her at her office she said, she never wanted to see me." Tara said bawling just as she had bawled from Paige's remarks and orbed right to Willow, who at the time was crossing the road. When Tara had materialized in the middle of the road a car screeched to a stop but not before jolting the blonde to the side of the road. Causing Tara to hurt her legs, and Willow took her back to the apartment that Scoobies had rented in San Francisco to be close to Kelly, and attended to her wounds both emotional and physical. Willow also convinced Tara to go see Phoebe in her office, but when she went there; Phoebe was furious with her and just told her to leave. Since then Tara had not seen the sisters till the moment she had to orb in the manor to save Piper from Faith and within twenty-four hours Phoebe was gone forever.

The vampires pushed them to start moving as they had taken enough time. Piper and Dawn each took one of Paige's hands and started to walk as Tara's heart was still crying for her lost love to find love to heal the person she still considered a reason for her loss. The four women walked in silence after that.

"Well that wasn't too difficult." She said as she dusted the last vampire who had turned against them.

"That was as though you knew he was coming from behind, and with his speed I have never seen a new vampire be that perceptive.' Jena said applauding her friend.

"I don't know, at times it's as if I can hear them think." She said trying to explain her ability.

"Like magic huh." Jena joked.

"Yeah, Jen I am a witch, or was one in my last life." She said joining her friend in a good laugh.

"So, you excited about meeting Faith." Jena asked seriously now.

"Very. You know I remember her, not through Saleena's memory because she awakened me, but my own memories. I remember her driving, being scared for me, protecting me. I know she wanted me to stay away from her, but I also know that she said that for my own good." She replied as her senses only concentrated on her thoughts.

"Yeah, but what good it would do you to be away from her." Jena asked the youngest vampire she ever befriended.

"That's what, I want to ask her." She had only said that when they both heard a loud thump and the whole ceiling fell on them.

"They are going to do what?" Scully asked unable to compute what she had just heard.

"Are you sure that is the only way." Scully asked again on the phone.

"Ok, I'll try and find out where they are." Scully said switching off the phone.

For the second time within only hours, Scully looked at Olivia lying under the sheets next to her.

"What are they planning to do?" Olivia asked.

"They ambushed the mansion that Saleena's tribe owned and killed all the vampires there, but Saleena wasn't there so now they are planning to bomb the Underworld." Dana answered grimly. She started to search the number in her phone as she spoke, "I got to find where Tara and Dawn are."

"And Faith." Olivia added.

"Yes, and Faith." Dana added.

Prophet jumped into the hole and landed right on his feet. He looked around for second and found what he was looking for. He swrilled his hand and removed the debris as he raised the two vampires that fallen.

"You must be Chance." He said as he stared at the brunette. "Even I never predicted this." He said as he put them down on the ground.

Right then, Faith fell from the hole with Saleena in her arms. Jena quickly ran to aid Saleena. "She needs blood." Faith told Jena as she transferred her friend.

"Faith." Chance said as she stared at the woman she had always wanted to meet since the day she was awakened.

"Chance." Faith said acknowledging her yet not acknowledging the excitement Chance was feeling at seeing her. "So, is the core secure?"

"Yes, we only have the supporters here." Chance replied as she had exactly what Faith had told her to do on the phone.

"Good." It was Prophet who said that and signaled his awaiting followers to jump down, and walked away with Saleena and Jena. Faith told Chance to follow them before the prisoners were lowered. After Chance was gone, she told the vampires to keep Tara and Paige in chains as they could orb and added that all the prisoners should be kept alive. It was clear, even though Faith didn't want to kill her former allies; she was not willing to let Saleena go through what she did.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

"So that's Perfect huh?" Saleena asked as she approached her friend lost in her thoughts as she peered below inside the cell.

Faith turned but said nothing.

"She certainly looks perfect." Saleena said as she eyed her friend's love.

"No, she is Piper. She stopped being Perfect long time ago." Faith answered with a numbed smile.

"Come on now, I saw the way you two were looking at each other. Now I might have been dead long time ago, but when I see…"

"No. That was a moment's weakness. She lied to me. She never intended to go back for Kelly, that's why she left her there for dead, if I hadn't seen her do it, I would have never been able to…" Faith paused unable to say the words. "You know what, forget it." Faith said as she tried to walk away.

"No, don't you dare hide your tears from me." Saleena stopped her friend and pulled her into a hug. Faith resisted for a second then gave in, allowing her tears to pour out as she clung to her friend.

Almost 20 feet below another woman was watching the two women who now appeared single in the dim light of random torches on the walls. Piper looked away wiping the slight wetness in her eyes. While inside the cell both Paige and Tara were in the midst of apologizing for their past actions. Piper walked to them and sat down right next to her sister.

"Life's a bitch isn't it?" Paige said watching her sister's gloom face. "Who would have thought that of all the people in the world Faith would be with Saleena?"

"Faith is with Saleena?" Dawn asked surprised.

"Yep, she shot an arrow at Piper to save HER." Paige said with contempt.

"But how can that be, Saleena is a vampire." Dawn asked.

"And you have never heard of slayers and vampires together?" Tara asked Dawn surprised at her surprise.

"Well, I have but… but… Leo said that …"

"What did Leo say? I would like to hear his part in all this?" Tara asked edged towards her former mentor.

"Nothing." Dawn tried to retract her earlier outburst.

"No, Dawny you don't want to hide things from us. Remember what happened the first time you sneaked things past us." Tara stared at Dawn with the eyes that said 'I know what you did'.

Dawn looked down guiltily and was compelled to share Leo's thoughts, "Leo said that slayers were the good counterpart of the vampires, so to annihilate a force inside a vampire its counterpart would alone be able to do so. So, if I am the key or a switch slayer alone can use me. That's why I was sent as Buffy's sister. Now the slayer has changed but not the fact."

"Then hope for some magic because I don't think Faith is going to harm Saleena or the Baby." Paige said as leaned back and played rattled on her chain.

"Who is that?" Scully asked Olivia who just finished a conversation on the phone.

"We got to go." Olivia simply said as she grabbed both their coats.

They drove to a residential area where all the lights were out except for one house.

"You want to come in." Olivia asked when she parked on the driveway of that very house. Scully nodded and followed the young detective.

"Olivia, I am so sorry to call you this late but she just has been so restless this whole night…" He immediately started to talk but Olivia politely stopped him.

"That's ok John. We were up for a case anyway. This is Agent Scully, she is working with me, and Agent Scully this is Mr. John Anderson." Olivia said as she introduced the two strangers who politely shook hands.

"I did try calling Faith and when I couldn't reach her, I called you." He explained further as the two women entered his home.

"I know she is unavailable right now." Olivia acknowledged her friend's absence and as her eyes fell on the little girl gloomily sitting holding on to her teddy.

"Hey, wanna come with me tonight?" Olivia asked as she knelt in front of the girl to whom she had become a second guardian to.

She looked up with her dark beautiful eyes and immediately jumped to hug the older woman.

"My head hurts Liv." She said as she started to cry on her shoulders.

"That's ok Kelly now I am here." Olivia said as she soothed Faith's daughter.

"Phoebe." Paige said aloud as she stared at the woman looking at them through the bars.

The other three women in the cell looked up as they heard the name and stared in the direction of Paige's eyes.

"And I thought only my mind was playing tricks." Tara said to herself recognizing the vampire and realizing that even the sisters were making the same conclusion she had made when she first saw her in the dome.

The bars of the cell opened at her command and she walked in as Paige and Piper stared at the face that uncannily resembled their sister.

"When I asked for a miracle, I never thought it would be answered." Paige said as she looked at Piper who was too dumbfounded to speak.

"Bring her." Chance said pointing towards Tara.

"Phoebe." Piper said when she realized that Chance was leaving.

"Name is Chance." She said as she growled and her face turned into a vampire's. "Don't you dare call on me? Thank Faith's generousness that you are alive or else I would have personally drain your blood for attacking Saleena." Chance growled with anger as she left the cell with Tara being towed by one of the lower level vampire.

"You are Phoebe." Tara said once they were all alone inside a room. Chance completely ignored her and continued on to chain her to the two pillars on the middle of the room.

"You might not remember but your face is changing as you remember, so please you must try. You are Phoebe." Tara insisted un-scared of what the Vampire planned for her.

"You certainly have a lot of guts coming here to kill Saleena." Chance who still carried the vampire face said as though she hadn't heard a word of what Tara said.

"I never intended to kill Saleena, I am here only because Prophet dragged me here." Tara explained honestly. "Phoebe, you have to believe me."

She had just said it when a heavy hand slapped her face. "Don't you dare call me that." Chance said as her face changed to normal. "I am Chance."

"No, you are not." Tara said recovering from the hit.

Chance took Tara's face on her hand and squeezed it as she talked right on it, "The only place out of that cell is your casket, no matter what Faith says. You know how much trouble I can be for trying to help you out here, and all you can do is call out some bitch's name, now give me one good reason why I shouldn't set aside this crazy desire I have for you, and just suck you dry to turn you."

"Because you are Phoebe." Tara answered bravely.

"No." Chance screamed as her vampire face reappeared and she slashed Tara's blouse with her nails causing her to bleed. Sighting blood the vampire in her slowly approached to lick her through her torn blouse but just as she was close enough to sniff the taste, she changed back and instead just tore her blouse further exposing Tara naked. Her eyes changed from dark to bright then to pure lust as she took in the view of Tara's bareness. She fondled the blonde white lighter's breasts slowly at first then harder and harder causing the Tara more pain than pleasure. "Ahhh…" Tara cried out in pain to which the vampire simply kneed on harder and came to her ears and bit it harder than usual, "Say my name and I'll stop hurting you." She said as she put her index finger inside of her mouth and put it out revealing a long vampire's nails instead. "Phoebe." Tara said stubbornly and closed her eyes awaiting her punishment. Instead of putting her nail to an immediate use, Chance smirked at the white-lighter's bravery as she pressed its point on her throat as Tara closed her eyes harder unwillingly to show her pain. Chance put a little more pressure on it, as the blood oozed out and started make its path downwards through the length of her throat, then the valley between her breast and stopped right on top of her belly button. Chance traced its path with her index finger as Tara's tightly shut eyes started to relax. She continued her finger further down to the button of her pants which she quickly unbuckled and her pants were down rendering her 100 naked. Then it was her tongue's turn to make the previous path downwards. Tara's eyes still remained closed, and she was still moaning, but this time not with pain as her mind and body only felt the trace of the Vampire's tongue on her skin, between her breasts, along her stomach then stopping right on her belly button. Chance took time to dart her tongue in and out of it. Then she ran her nails up and down Tara's legs as she moaned louder. "Say my name." Chance said once again right on her heat this time. "Phoebe." Tara defied once again but in a feeble, barely audible voice. "You asked for it." Chance said as she darted her tongue right inside her core with a forceful thrust that erupted a volcano of pain and pleasure almost like the surge of pain that hits you as your virginity is broken. screamed but Chance continued devouring with growing urgency as her own body started to crave the very invasion. By now Chance was carrying all of Tara's weight on her shoulders and her head was dived deeper inside. For the first time, as her orgasm built up, Tara felt antagonizing physically that her body didn't even feel the pain in her wrists as it bled when she cringed for the final time, letting go of her release.

Even though Tara was 100 exhausted she weakly nodded her head. After that Chance unchained her and took her to the bed, where Tara immediately went into slumber.

* * *

"Keep your hands where I can see them." Olivia warned aiming her gun to the stranger in her house. 

"Listen I can explain." He said as he turned around with his hands up. 

"Kelly, come to me." Olivia told the young child who was almost grabbed by the man. 

"Who are you and why were trying to kidnap Kelly?" Olivia asked as she protective pulled Kelly behind her. 

"Leo!" Scully said as she walked inside the living room. "You know him?" Olivia asked but wasn't surprised. "Yes, you can keep your gun away, he is, umm… for the lack of more understandable word, an angel." Scully said as she walked up to give him a kiss on his cheek. Leo was one person from the Halliwell acquaintances that Scully had actually liked. "Thank god, you are here." Leo said voicing his relief in seeing her. "Listen, I need Kelly." Leo begged hopping that Dana would understand the emergency. "Leo, she is but a child." Dana replied thinking more about the child than the danger all around them. "Do you have any idea what is happening?" Leo asked sensing that Dana might not be totally in dark. "Yes, everyone is after Saleena." Dana replied knowing that the very mention of the name would suffice in answering that she did know. "She or the baby doesn't have to die. Prophet sent message that he got everything to make that happen, including the k…. including Dawn so now all he needs is the slayer. And Kelly is a slayer." Leo explained quickly as the time was pressing on. "But so is Faith." Dana asked. "I know but I just can't find her, and we don't have much time. Please let me take Kelly." Leo begged once more to the two women. Scully wanted to say yes, but she knew it wasn't her decision, so she simply looked at Olivia to make it. "Where are you taking her?" Olivia asked still not sure what to do. "To the underworld." Leo replied honestly. "Oh! God. The army is planning to bomb it. I have been trying my best on the phone trying to stop them." Scully said as her fears of people being there were confirmed. "You have to stop them, this can be dealt with no life wasted." Leo said as he simply stretched his hand for Kelly to hold. Olivia hesitated at first then she let go of Kelly. Kelly had only held his hand when they both tingled into thin air. "We have to stop the army." Scully said already half way out the door. "I remember." Chance said as she examined the wounds she had caused on Tara's beautiful body. "You do." Tara reconfirmed grinning with joy. "Tara you have to understand, I was awakened by Saleena. If or not she turned me, I don't know. But when one is awakened they get the memory of the vampire who awakened them. So, I have Saleena's memory, not in entirety but enough to know it happened. So, I remember the Phoebe you talk about." Chance said as she cupped the beautiful face and continued. "I remember Saleena killing her." "No, you are Phoebe. I can see it in your eyes." Tara refused to believe. "Sucking her blood must have put her memories in Saleena's blood and I might have taken a chuck of it, as I have been getting flashes of her memories." Chance explained her own confusion. "If you are getting flashes it could be your own memory." Tara said unwilling to give up hope. "It cannot be, because it is very rare for vampires to remember their past life. Even when that does happen it takes centuries to actually find it, because when one is awakened we are flooded by memories of the every vampire that ever performed the awakening." Chance said disappointing even herself, as at some level even she had started to wish that she was Phoebe, the woman of Tara's desire. As Chance was able to bring doubt back in Tara's mind her face was changing to that of a stranger than of Phoebe. Just then the door flew open, and for the second time the two women were caught in bed. "Where are her chains?" Faith yelled as soon as she saw what was happening. "Get her chained and get out." Faith said as she stormed out as she had stormed. Chance didn't even look as Tara as she quickly cuffed her and chained her to the bed as she hurriedly got dressed cursing under her breath for being caught by none other than Faith. "She promised, she wouldn't disappear." Chance gave an excuse as she got out of the room and closed the door. "And if she did, it wouldn't be the first time she broke a promise to you." Faith retorted furious. "What?" Chance asked wondering what Faith meant. "Listen, you are to keep away from all the prisoners or else I'll slay you with no remorse." Faith threatened her. "Now, go to the Prophet, he called for you." After Chance had left, Faith re entered the room to find Tara who had already dressed. "That is Phoebe." Tara said as she watched her former friend come nearer. "I could feel her soul, it might be suppressed but its there. You didn't kill her." Faith smirked as she stated the obvious, "She is dead. You think vampires are alive?" Just as Tara realized she was right, the real irony dawned on her. "Oh God! It's a perfect revenge for you. The sisters at opposite sides." Tara said as her head started to overload with possible scenarios in which the two sisters would kill their own. "Now she can hold the dragger for her own sister." Faith said devilishly. Tara was surprised to hear hate in the slayers voice, but then she realized that Faith still didn't know the truth. "She didn't leave her to die." Tara said halting the slayers exit. "She wanted to sacrifice herself for Kelly." "Yes, and that is why she left her there." Faith retorted back. "No, she didn't leave her there…" Tara stood up to walk but her chains prevented her. "Yeah, and she would sacrifice herself and I would just take it, you think she was that foolish." Faith said throwing the reason out the window. "That's why she had the memory spell." "What memory spell?" Faith asked now a little interested in hearing her out. "The spell that she was to put on you and Buffy so that you would forget her. But, because someone had put a spell on her, her spell backfired making her, loose her memory hence she forgot all about Kelly." Tara reported in a nutshell. "Who put a spell on her?" Faith asked trying to believe her story. "Dawn did. She thought that if Piper left you, you would come back to Buffy and Buffy would be happy again." Tara finally revealed Dawn. Faith stared at her blankly trying to assess the truth and let go of the anger that she had managed to keep even after so many years. Tears appeared in her eyes as she thought about all the hate she had build up, just then Jena ran into the room panicking, "There is something going on in Prophet's den, I heard Chance scream and he has all the prisoners in there." "You said no one would die." Leo screamed from the ceiling where he was pinned with unseen force. "Oh! I lied. You know when you have lived or died for as long as I have the little thing as truth holds no meaning." He said as he approached the little slayer. "Now, Kelly my little girl. All you have to do is put this dragger inside her." He said pointing to Saleena who was pinned on the wall too. "Why are you doing this?" Saleena asked, unable to believe that Prophet was betraying her. "I am just killing that force inside of you, not you Saleena." Prophet screamed back trying to make Kelly hold the dragger. "Now, come on little girl." He said using more force on her hand to which Kelly pushed, causing the Prophet to slide almost to the other end surprising everyone in the room, including the two sisters and Dawn. "My oh my, you certainly are powerful." He said as he pinned her on the wall. "Hold the dragger." He commanded as the dragger floated right near her hand. "No, I'll not kill anyone." Kelly replied as she broke his hold, grabbed the dragger and shot it right at him. He moved his head, making the dragger miss only by a hairline. "Nintandum." He shouted shocked by the young slayer's strength. Just then a huge cage appeared around Kelly whose bars were beyond her strength. As he was getting up, Faith walked in with Jena and Tara in tow. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" Faith had just asked that when both Jena and Tara got pinned right next to Leo and she found herself floating in the air once again. "Ahh the solution to my problem; what the daughter won't do, the mother will." Prophet said looking at the older slayer. "What the fuck is up?" Faith asked once again trying to unleash herself. "Oh I'll tell you, you see I have a little deal going on here. You see, immortality can be curse once you have lived as long as I have. Now, I know a stake through my heart can end it, but who wants to go to hell, not me. So, here is what I have been offered, kill that force inside, and I shall be set free." He turned to Saleena as though she was the only one who would understand. "Now, you understand why I have to do what I have to do, right." "But, you don't have to kill the baby." Leo said once again hoping on the goodness inside Prophet. "Yes, there is, and believe me Leo, if I had a choice I would wait for your witch to find it, but she has failed." He said looking at Tara. "Without it, this is the only way." He said walking up to Saleena and holding her shoulders as though he wanted her to forgive him for what he was about to do. Saleena looked up helplessly as everyone she hoped would save her, were all pinned by the Prophet's powers. "Now, slayer, how about taking the dragger." He turned to Faith making the dragger float right to her. "Not, even if you skin me." Faith said daring the Prophet. "I know the buttons in you. Thanks to Saleena's memories." Prophet said as he floated Chance from one side of the wall to where the sisters were pinned. "Now what is that thing you girls say, oh yeah, 'the power of three will set us free'. Yeah, that one, start chanting it." He commanded as the three women stared at each other. Just then Kelly screamed with pain and knelt on the floor holding her head. "NO….." Faith screamed realizing what the reconstitution of the Charmed Ones meant for her daughter, while the sisters finally realized who they were staring at. Even though, Paige's heart was filled with joy, she was the first one to speak for them all, "We will not say it." Faith looked up at the sisters thankfully. "It doesn't matter, as long as they are together, Kelly will bleed. Now slayer, how about making me mortal again?" He said as he held the dragger and put it in Faith's open hand. Just then the room was stormed with enormous amount of wind, throwing the three sisters in the three different direction of the room and amidst all the dust a ghastly silhouette walked towards Kelly's cage. "No one harms my child." Odan said as his voice echoed throughout the tunnels of the underworld. Tara clasped Leo's hand as soon as she saw Odan. "I have found it." 


	18. Happily Ever After

**Happily Ever After  
**

"Wow, this thing looks expensive." Phoebe exclaimed at the necklace.

"I know, well one of the perks of having a rich husband to be." Paige giggled as she took it out.

"I want a rich husband to be too." Phoebe pouted as she watched her sister put the necklace with envy.

"Yeah, Phoebe you want everything that everybody else has." Piper said ridiculing her sister from the floor as she made the final altercation in Paige's simple and slick, total white wedding gown. She got up and the two sisters looked at their youngest one gleaming as a bride. "Wow, you look so beautiful." Piper said with tears in her eyes. "Oh! Yes you do." Phoebe said equally emotionally as the three sisters hugged.

"Ok Mulder here is the last of the reports that I had to do." Scully said as she dropped the file on Mulder's table.

"Now, Scully, if I write Agent Scully ran past the guards and intentionally shot the control for the launcher. Would that be a negative report?" Mulder asked reminding his partner of her desperate move to stop the army from bombing the underworld.

"No, Mulder that would be an accurate report, as long as you don't forget to write that no one was killed, including the undead." Scully answered as she didn't regret what she had done. "Now, I am off, I have a wedding to attend."

"So, you mean Phoebe wasn't dead." Willow asked trying to understand everything.

"Well, for Kelly to be alive, Phoebe needed to be dead so, Faith called upon Saleena to turn her to a vampire, which technically is dead. Then Saleena awakened her." Tara clarified as she waited for the traffic light to turn green.

"I get it. But, because she hadn't made any kill, the sisters turned her back and reconstituted the Charmed Ones." Willow made the connection. "But how is Kelly alive?"

"Well, Kelly needed a sacrifice of great power…"

"The power of Odan. He sacrificed himself for his daughter." Willow finally started to understand.

"Basically he had no choice, as you see, Saleena's baby needed a soul, and because I could sense soul, I was looking for a soul for the baby which I didn't know till I saw Odan." Tara explained.

"Odan had a soul?" Willow asked surprised that a demon would have a soul.

"Yes, he did, that's why he stood out from other demon and survived for so long." Tara turned quickly so that she wouldn't miss the parking.

"Ok, so let's see, Odan's power's sacrifice saved Kelly, his soul saved Saleena's baby. So all is well now?" Willow concluded after listening to Tara for over an hour.

"Yes, I found the soul; Dawn took the soul out and Faith put it in. It was like everything that happened had happened for a reason and when we came out, the army was waiting with its rocket launchers ready to bomb the place, which Scully had stopped." Tara said putting a period at the recreation of what had happened.

"Now, which shop did Fred say she had ordered the cake from?" Tara said standing on the end of a Baker's street with almost all the door's having a sign of Bakery.

"You look hot, mom." Kelly said staring at the older slayer in a long but figure hugging gas blue silk strapless gown with lavender beads.

"Now who taught you to call your own mom hot?" Faith asked a little surprised by Kelly's comment.

"Oh! Come on, I say what I see." Kelly said sounding exactly like Faith as she entered the room with Olivia right behind.

"And I have to agree. You do look hot." Olivia said taking a good look at her friend.

"If I do look hot, how come you asked Ms FBI as a date to the wedding?" Faith complained taking a final look at the mirror to make sure she hadn't missed anything.

"You didn't ask, Piper?" Olivia asked a little surprised by Faith's hesitation.

"Lot has happened since; I can't just go ask her."

"Of course you can, rather I would say just go and kiss her." Phoebe advised her elder sister. "I can't believe you haven't already done so. Look at Tara and me, we talked, got the whole homophobic sister and misunderstood scene of Willow between her legs out of the way and now everything is water under the bridge and now …." She intended to complete the moral of her ranting but her sight caught the beautiful white-lighter in pink gown with a white scarf approaching and she forgot all her words.

"I know I should talk to Faith, but just hadn't had the time, and I don't even know if she feels…Phoebe?" Piper called her sister realizing that her thoughts were unheard.

"You'll do fine." Phoebe said and ran to greet Tara. 

(Couple of hours later)

A handsome late twenties man stood at alter as the crowd and he waited for the bride.

"This is it." Paige said seeing only Greg who had eyes only for her.

"Kelly, that's the cue, go now." Piper said as Kelly entered the room throwing flowers on the red carpet that led to the groom. Then the two sisters proudly followed the little slayer one after another.

Paige firmed her grip on Leo who looked at his ex-sister in law with pride and they waited for their cue. Once they heard the famous music, they started their short but highly waited walk, as the two sisters watched with tears.

The ceremony by itself took very little time but it left with many of the women in the crowd with tears including Saleena who never thought she would cry at a wedding.

The guests then moved to the beautiful garden of the Saleena's mansion that was illuminated by the bright moonlight. They took the drink of their liking and found their own little groups to mingle with as the bride and the groom danced with couple other couples. Tara sat alone watching Willow and Fred on the dance floor lost in their own world. She was wondering when that had happened when she saw Phoebe coming back with her drink.

"God, I love the whole idea of the wedding at the night. It's just so beautiful." Phoebe said as she sat right next to Tara.

"With vampires in the guest list what did you expect?" Tara said as they both turned to Saleena and Angel engrossed in a deep conversation.

"Well, I am glad I am not one." Phoebe confessed thank full that Saleena didn't let her make any kill while she was a vampire.

"It had some perks." Tara confessed with a naughty gleam in her eyes.

"You liked the whole fang thing huh." Phoebe asked getting turned on by the outspokenness of the white-lighter. "Well, if want we could find the basement, and we could play vampire and her captive again." Phoebe said as she gently put their glasses down and tugged the angel for her to follow.

While in another corner Piper sipped her wine as she scanned the garden once again but didn't see Faith. She knew Faith had come to the wedding as she had seen her wave to Kelly when the marriage was being performed but after that she hadn't seen the slayer at all. It wasn't like they hadn't had opportunities before to talk, but Piper just didn't know how to start, so she had just procrastinated it till now, when with enough wine in her bloodstream she thought she could approach her but she was no where to be found. She walked to the bar once again, and refilled her wine glass when she saw a figure towards the gate of the mansion. Even though she couldn't see clearly as to, who it was, her heart knew it was Faith so she ran towards her. When she reached an earshot distance, she screamed, "Faith, please don't go."

Faith stopped right away and turned to the panting witch. Faith watched her with wetness in her eyes as Piper regained her normal breathing, when she finally opened her mouth to say something, Piper stopped it with her lips reclaiming the woman circumstances had taken away from her. Yes, no matter how many apocalypses come, you can count on love.

A young hand slid under his, as he looked up and smiled. Leo held Dawn's hand firmly as they both watched the two women from far.

The scene paused and Buffy put down her remote control and sniffed on her total white handkerchief, sitting up on her total white bed on the whitest of the white clouds.

"I can't believe my sister is dating an angel." Buffy said as she watched the image of Dawn and Leo.

"I can't believe my sister is dating as angel either." Prue said equally emotionally, as she changed the tv screen to the Phoebe and Tara, but seeing that they were already in the basement with Tara on the chains, she flipped the scene right back to the paused image of Dawn and Leo.

"More so, I can't believe two of my sisters are gay." Prue said in an after thought.

Buffy turned her head to the woman in her bed, with nothing but a see through white night dress. "Coming from the woman who got banned from going to her sister's wedding because umm…let's see how can I put it? Because with having sex with the slayer, who is a woman by the way."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I am gay." Prue said even though she knew she had lost.

"I'll show how not gay you are." The slayer said as she put the covers up, to cover them.

**The End**


End file.
